Unmei
by sedated014
Summary: Fuuko and Tokiya got married young and disappeared for 5 years after marriage. The Hokage Team missed them. They attend the Hokage Team Reunion party but their peaceful family starts to crumble. A ReccaFuuko fic. R&R please.
1. Dream

Yume

After the battle, everything went fine but it seems not quite well to Fuuko. She was now known for being Tokiya's spouse, and she is really grateful for that.

"A man...who accepted me...even...even though..." her eyes tightened as if trying to get rid of a hurtful past. She shook her head heavily, her long cherry colored hair played across the air and she sobbed to her hands.

"Recca...you idiot," she murmured.

Tiny hands suddenly held her sleeve. "Mama, what's the matter?" She shook her head slightly and ran her hands through her child's hair.

"Nothing, Riiya. Mama's fine,"

"A man called a while ago, it's Hiro..Hami...Haramiki-san" Riiya informed.

"I believe its Hanabishi, Riiya," Fuuko chuckled.

"Ah! Right, kaasan, Hanabishi-san," "He said he wants you to call him back at once because it's very important."

"So, did you asked him what's his number?" she asked

"Huh? Do I have to?" Riiya replied. Fuuko's eyes sharpened through her son as he replied.

"What do you mean, 'do I have to?' of course, you have to. You said that he told you its really important, and you know that man had already moved since he was able to have his own house. Am I right!"

"But I...I...I forgot to ask him," Riiya said confused to answer his enraged mother.

"Fine, so I guess we can't do anything about that," she said in a lowered voice.

"No need, I already called him," a voice said interrupting their conversation. They both glared to find out who's talking.

"Otousan"

"Tokiya..."

"He said there'll be a reunion of the Hokage team and his engagement with Yanagi on Saturday," he informed.

"But...Riiya said Recca called a while ago," Fuuko said confused

"I called him a while ago, he called last Saturday," Fuuko's eyes started to berserk while Tokiya added, "Riiya must have forgotten to tell you earlier because last Saturday you were with your family,"

"A while...ago, huh?" Fuuko said with striking eyes to her son and her hands to her waist.

"But I did forgot, kaasan. Gomen." Riiya said hiding behind Tokiya. Fuuko's face was very scary and Fuuko suddenly sounded her fists ready to strike that Riiya ran away, screaming.

"He really thinks you'll knock him out," Tokiya chuckled. "Just like Recca," he added

Much to her surprise, Fuuko became stunned and turned facing him. "Tokiya..."

"Did I just say something wrong?" he asked with a smile.

"But Tokiya, Riiya...he..."

"I think you've already told me that 5 years ago, and you reminded me that 1, 825 times if I'm right," Tokiya inferred

All she could do is smile for such things he told her even though he knew how hard it is to take responsibility to the child that's not his.

"A weak smile doesn't suit you, Qin Ai"

"Qin Ai? That's not a Japanese language,"

"Of course it's not, because it's Chinese language,"

She chortled. "You really have changed. Now you're the one who enlightened things." Fuuko said with a cheery smile.

"It's because before you're the one who enlightened me."

"And that's why you still accepted a careless girl,"

"How many times do I have to tell you, it's no one's fault, okay?" Tokiya said holding her through her shoulders and trying to seize her tears to appear.

Fuuko gave him a wry smile. "I'll take responsibility for every pain that everybody has caused you because you're agonies were also mine since we vowed to be together forever, right?" He said while holding Fuuko's cheek then she pulled herself to embrace him. "Now, I don't want to see tears shed from you, it doesn't suit you. Besides, the Fuuko I know doesn't know how to cry. Okay? It's alright..."

"Uh...What are you two doing?" a voice said intruding them

The couple immediately broke off holding each other. "Nothing," Tokiya replied.

"I don't think so. Look, kaasan's blushing!" Riiya exclaimed. Fuuko held her face and became reddish.

"Why you...Come back here you brat!" Fuuko and Riiya went running around the house.

"As long as it's not Hanabishi Recca's son," Tokiya murmured when his smile turns to frown.

**At Recca's house**

Recca is lying on his bed (um...correction, I mean his messy bedroom)

"It sure has been quite a while," he thought. "What could have happened to every one? Hope they're doing fine. Wait a minute...I never heard of Fuuko right after my 17th birthday. The last thing I heard of her is that she's married to Tokiya. I wonder how they're doing now, but...how complicated...can't Tokiya wait for the right time to marry Fuuko. Marrying at the ages of 17 and 18 surely is very early. Well, at least Tokiya's able to take good care of my lifetime friend, nothing to worry and on Saturday I will be meeting with Fuuko, I'll be able to ask her everything I want to know," Recca fell asleep for so much thinking and plans for the reunion.

On his dream (You surely have clues from the very beginning whose child Riiya is, but kind of really complicating. But this time, you'll have the clue )

"Well, here we are!" Yanagi said as she runs to her door and turns to Recca. "Thanks for bringing me home, Recca-kun"

"Sure thing, Princess, no need to thank me, it's one of my job. Ja!" he said and walks away.

He was walking to his home with simple clothes of a white polo shirt with pants and rubber shoes. The entire thing that's on his mind was his princess. "Hime," he thought. Suddenly his voice echoed, when he heard it he became stunned for an unusual event.

"If you're able to beat me, I'd be happy to call you princess and be your ninja, Fuuko," a voice said that looks like coming from a boy.

"Huh?" Recca is confused figuring out where that voice comes from. He turns and turns looking for the source of that unusual event.

"Take care of yourself, Recca, I'll miss you..." the lass in the swing said and her long dark pink colored hair hiding her face. Her voice seems just near him even though she's far from him.

"Fuuko?" Recca murmured in prediction. "Fuuko..." he turned and saw the young lady in the swing. He ran towards the young lady, trying to reach for her, but she stayed in the same place motionless. "Fuuko!" he yelled. When suddenly, the young lady is able to look at him, and he's right, she's Fuuko and she's crying...blood.

Everything went blank and he's static. "Fuuko..." he murmured repeating again and again, and then he closed his eyes. He woke up and found himself on his desk.

"Hanabishi-sama!" his secretary exclaimed trying to wake him. "Yokata, well, it's already 10 o'clock sir, I'm leaving. Ja!"

"Oh, I guess...it's pretty late." He fixed his things and ready to leave when suddenly a small sound of chuckle was heard. He ignored it first but then those small chuckles became a laugh. He found out that it came from his front desk and peeped slowly.

He saw a boy in front desk and he's watching Fuuko's video cam. His eyes widened as he saw the boy's face. The boy (Riiya) turned and stared at him, he smiled at Recca and said,

"Otousan..." End of the short and whatever dream

He woke up (and this time it's for real) he is perspiring and he is still.

"Who's that boy? Why does he look just like me? Was that girl, Fuuko? Why is she telling me all those things? Why was she crying? Was she in great pain? But first of all, what does that dream really means?" Recca asked continually on his thoughts. For too many thoughts on mind, he held his head down.

"Huh? Doushita no, Recca-kun?" Yanagi asked with worry-look on her face as she found Recca sit still, holding his head down. She went nearer to him and when she's about to touch him, he suddenly looked at her. And because of that, she stood back and was frightened.

"Hime...Gomen," he said with a sigh.

"Something wrong?" she asked and held his cheek. He shook his head delicately and smiled. She hugged him and whispered, "I'm glad, I'm so worried"

**(Back to Fuuko)**

Fuuko is watching TV with her son, Riiya. Riiya is watching cartoons.

"What a stupid show," Fuuko said bored.

"Well, I'm the one who's watching, so better shut up, old woman!"

"What did you just said, you brat!" Fuuko said hitting Riiya on his head.

"Grandma!" Riiya said after rubbing his head after Fuuko's hit him. Fuuko lost temper and runs toward Riiya ready to execute him. Tokiya is in the master's bedroom and was concentrating on his work. Suddenly, Riiya jumped over him and made him fall.

"Tokiya!" Fuuko exclaimed worrying for Tokiya for any injuries or bruises. She rushed towards him.

"I'm fine, don't worry," Tokiya informed her with a smile.

"If anything happens to your father, it's all your fault, you brat!" she barked to her son.

"Hmph! If only I don't have a tomboyish mother like her, I wouldn't have been a brat," he murmured.

"I dare you say that again!"

"I'll say it as many times as you want! YOU'RE A TOMBOY!" Riiya turned and found a furious Fuuko her sleeve up and was tightly seized by Tokiya. Riiya slapped a hand on his head and shook. He then murmured, "Was that really, my mother?"

A knock from their door was heard while the mother and son were quarreling. Riiya volunteered to open the door. While he's downstairs, Tokiya fixed himself and with a smile on his face. Fuuko is staring at him while he doing that. He realized being observed and stared back at Fuuko.

"What's the matter?" he asked, Fuuko shook her head smiling.

"Kaasan, Tousan, its Ishijima-san," Riiya yelled from downstairs.

"Huh? What could be the problem?" Fuuko wondered.

"Might be something important," Tokiya predicted.

"And Yanagi-chan!" Riiya added.

The couple stared at each other as if really surprised. While downstairs, Yanagi and Domon were seated and waiting and Riiya is making juice and prepared some assorted cookies for them.

"It might be quite really a surprise for my parents," Riiya said as he put the tray on the glass table of their living room and took one cookie. He sat on the solo chair, near Yanagi, and ate the cookie. Yanagi is staring at him in every move he make.

"What do you mean by that, Riiya?" Domon asked

"Kaasan isn't that taking too long preparing herself for some visitors, well, otousan, he is taking much time, but not longer than 5 mins," he explained.

"Very unusual indeed, eh, Yanagi?" Domon replied but then Yanagi is staring at Riiya quite too long that Domon slightly pushed Yanagi.

"Yanagi?"

"Huh? Oh, yes, whatever it is," Yanagi replied and laid her head on the sofa she's sitting on. Not much later, she stared slightly at Riiya and suddenly saw Tokiya behind Riiya.

"Good job, Riiya," he tapped at Riiya's head. Riiya's face turned into fox- like.

Tokiya sat on the other solo chair, near Domon. "So, what might be the problem?"

"Your hair's...short" Yanagi pointed at Tokiya and wondered.

"But otousan always have a short hair," Riiya butted in.

"Silly, your father's hair before is long, didn't you know that?" Fuuko said in a sudden appearance. She sat on the arm of Tokiya's chair.

Riiya is eating a lot more cookie and went to the kitchen to get some more. Yanagi is staring at Fuuko and Fuuko smiled back at her.

"Doushite, Yanagi, you've been really quiet," Domon doubted.

"Nothing," Yanagi shook and smiles.

"Uh, Fuuko...We just want to borrow your video cam, I don't know but Recca suddenly needed it badly," Domon requested

"Might be for the red letter day on Saturday," Yanagi guessed.

"Oh, okay, but it's in my house," Fuuko replied.

"Well, I think we better leave now, Recca isn't feeling well. Let's go, Domon," Yanagi said and got up.

"Uh, thanks for everything, Fuuko, Tokiya," Domon said.

"Oh! You're leaving already," Riiya eclaimed and rushed towards them. He guided them to the door.

"How strange, what does he want in that video cam?" Tokiya wondered.

"Could be for the party," Riiya guessed as he closes the door. "Otousan, can I go to the reunion?" he added asking.

"Well, I think that's fine," Tokiya permitted.

"I'm not going," Fuuko said.

"Kaasan?"

"On Saturday, it's my..."

"Right, its grandma's birthday. I forgot," Riiya remembered.

"Yes, and I promised her, I'm coming," Fuuko said with worry.

"It doesn't matter," Tokiya comforted.

"Right! I'll be the one to go to grandma's birthday!" Riiya volunteered.

"What!" they chorused

"Don't worry, kaasan, it doesn't matter. Cause it's also a party, but much greater, cause it's a birthday party!" Riiya exclaimed. "I'll explain everything to grandma," he said bravely.

"And how old do you think you are to go alone at such occasion huh!" Fuuko scolded.

"Old enough to look for you when you left the house without permission from Otousan or me," Riiya answered.

Fuuko gripped herself to held back her temper. "He's my son. I'm not angry. I'm just fine. Calm down. He's my son..." she murmured over and over.

"Well, I guess, that settles everything," Tokiya confirmed with a grin.

**DREAM...dream, dream, dream...DREAM**

"Where are you going, you twerp!" Fuuko shouted

"To grandma's house!" Riiya raised his index finger and rushed outside.

"What! Riiya, matte!" Fuuko ran trying to catch Riiya. "That brat! Always have a way to escape me!" she murmured when Riiya disappeared before her own eyes.

"...Fuuko..." a voice said.

"Huh?" she turns and found Recca standing behind her. Recca's face was full of sorrow and is so calm. His eyes full of guilt and he suddenly came closer to her and holds her in his arms.

"God! I miss you, Fuuko..." he whispered

She chuckled, "Doushite? Hey...Recca?" she pulled back and saw Recca much more guilt seen in his eyes.

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry, Fuuko." Recca closes his head on Fuuko and repeats again and again.

"I really don't know what happened to you, but, whatever it is. It really worries me," Fuuko pulls back and steps backward.

"You don't have to hide it anymore, I already knew," he informed

"What? I'm married? Well, you already knew that right?"

"That I left you helpless with a child,"

"What are you talking about?"

"Fuuko..." Recca steps forward trying to reach Fuuko

"Stop that! You really terrify me," Fuuko frightened but he's able to grip her.

"Fuuko...please..."

"Hanase, hentai!" Fuuko screamed so scared and began to cry silently.

Recca covered her mouth with his handkerchief; she smelled medicine and began to feel sleepy.

"I'm sorry...Fuuko..." Recca said.

Fuuko woke up and found herself lying on an unfamiliar place. "Where am I?" she thought. A television was left on in front of her.

"This is what I recorded on Recca's birthday," she murmured.

She watched her records and chuckles on those memories they shared. They all got drunk except Yanagi and her. Recca was hiding on the door and watched Fuuko reminisce.

The record went over and Fuuko was satisfied when suddenly another record was shown.

(ON THE RECORD)

Fuuko was carrying Recca, his arm around her neck and Recca is obviously drunk. She laid him on his bed, and left to prepare some things to fix him. She brought a basin of warm water, a coffee and a fresh towel. She was trying to take his clothes off when suddenly his arms went around her and now he was on top of her. She tried to push him away but he's way too strong.

"Recca, stop!" Fuuko resisting but he kissed her body and touched her all over, she began to pull away but he kissed her. He's irresistible for her but all in her mind was Yanagi. She pushed him with all her weight.

"Let me go, you pervert!" She tried to run away, as fast as she could but he's able to catch her because he's a ninja.

She's trapped by corners and he touched her cheek.

"Hime..." he whispered softly to her ear.

She became stunned and could not move. He started unbuttoning her clothes and the show cut off.

(END OF RECORD)

"No..." Fuuko sat still staring at the TV. Recca is standing behind her and held her in his arms.

"Hanashi te..."

"Fuuko," Recca locked his arms around her.

"I SAID LET ME GO, YOU FIEND!" They both fell lying and his hands tightly gripped on hers.

"Fuuko, I..."

"I don't want to hear anything, ANYMORE!" Fuuko crying out trying to get away from him, he laid her still and tried to calm her. He pushed her down but then she still resisting with all her might.

Fuuko's scream is way too loud that it can be heard from outside. Yanagi became worried and rushed inside. Recca's push on Fuuko was strong that her shirt ripped. Yanagi opened the sliding door and was stunned when she found Fuuko helpless under Recca. The two were surprised finding Yanagi on the door.

"Yanagi..." Fuuko said. Yanagi's eyes became misty and ran away from them.

"HIME!" Recca chased her and Fuuko sat there motionless and felt so guilty.

"I am...an intruder..."

**End of dream**

Fuuko woke up gasping for air. She's at Riiya's room, and it's very late. It's already 2 in the morning. Riiya is fast asleep beside her. So calm. He looks like an angel. So innocent. Fuuko decided to go back to their room. And with a kiss on the forehead of her asleep son, she slowly crept out of the room.

So what do you think? Is it better than before or worse than before? Better tell me cause I'm gonna have a new chapter coming up...Wanna know your comments..Sorry if update got2 long years before I got a new idea..Too many duties to finish first, but I guess that's not a good reason for all of you to end up waiting for nothing..Gomen nasai minna! (sob)...


	2. Reunion

**Reunion**

* * *

NOTE: Sorry everyone for the wait...my stupid email made me think no one was reading my fic so I kind of slack off on it...Gomene, minna...(-.-)

* * *

"Tokiya, I don't want to go. I'm not feeling well," Fuuko said without any expression. 

"Why is that? You and Recca have been together for years than we did. You should've missed that slack-off flamethrower even if he's a total jerk," Tokiya said.

Fuuko is totally stunned by his words.

"You couldn't possibly still be angry at Recca, are you?" Fuuko asked.

"No," Tokiya answered straightly. "Get ready now, Fuuko, we're gonna be late,"

"I don't want to. I feel sick," Fuuko said.

"I'm ready!" Riiya claimed suddenly. Fuuko was astonished seeing her well-dressed son right before her eyes.

"What the heck are you wearing? And where do you think you're going?" Fuuko asked angrily.

"-tousan..." Riiya charmed to Tokiya.

"-heck with this child," Fuuko thought.

Tokiya turned to Fuuko.

"I allowed him to go with us. If you want to stay here, he's still coming along with me. Everybody wants to see us Fuuko. It's been five years and Domon and Yanagi were the only faces I've seen," Tokiya defended. "Everybody was surprised when they found out we got married anyway if you don't know,"

"Are you nagging me?" Fuuko reassured.

"Yes," Tokiya frankly said turning his back to her. "because you needed that,"

"Fine, whatever, but I won't let you bring Riiya with you," Fuuko argued.

Tokiya turned to Fuuko.

"Then make me," Tokiya said.

"-tousan...I think I'll-" Riiya tried to suggest but Tokiya cuts him, "Wait for me downstairs,"

"Ah...hai," Riiya politely obeyed.

Fuuko sits up. "Riiya," she called.

"Does that mean you're coming with us now?" Tokiya asked.

Fuuko felt nervous and at the same time confused. Tokiya has been gentle with her with the last five years that they've been together. Is it only because he wanted some time with the Hokage team or there's something else.

"Well?" Tokiya reassured.

"Yes," Fuuko said. "I'm coming with you,"

"I can't let Recca find out about this," Fuuko thought. She heads to the bathroom where their wardrobe is connected.

Tokiya grips her arm making her cease her movements. She looks up at him.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to force you this way," Tokiya said lowly.

"I understand," she replied shaking his hand away, she continues her walk. She locks up in the bathroom and looks at her wedding ring.

"I'm married now...it's already too late for regrets," Fuuko thought.

* * *

Fuuko tries to hide her trembling as their car get nearer and nearer to Recca's place. She had too many thoughts on her mind that she gasped when she felt someone squeezing her hand. She looks at Tokiya. He's smiling at her. 

"Relax...no one can tell you those harsh things anymore," Tokiya said. "Not even that idiot, Hanabishi,"

Fuuko couldn't say more than a smile.

"Look at those neat, fast cars!" Riiya exclaimed.

Fuuko looked at her son.

"You know, you're very lucky," Tokiya said. Fuuko looks at him in confusion. "Your son is really no ordinary. He's very clever,"

"How could you say that? This twerp is nothing but a nut!" Fuuko opposed.

"That's why he's clever. He knows how to deal with you," Tokiya said. "He knows how to make you brush away your thoughts,"

Fuuko was surprised that she was left staring at Tokiya.

"We're here," Tokiya said.

"Yay! We're here!" Riiya claimed excitedly. He hugs Tokiya from the back. "Thanks for making me come along Dad!"

"Whoa! Easy, cowboy. Daddy's trying to find us parking," Tokiya chuckled.

Riiya smiled cheerily and behaved at his seat.

"-kaasan!" Riiya called shrieking out.

The thought-loaded Fuuko almost jumped in surprise. Riiya laughed.

"I swear I'll kill you when I get the chance!" Fuuko screamed reaching out for Riiya, but then Riiya suddenly flails his tiny arms around him with a very cheery smile on his face.

"Aishiteru, -kaasan!" Riiya yelled out.

Fuuko's eyes widened in surprise.

Tokiya smiled watching at his wife and foster child.

"Well, let's go, shall we?" Tokiya suggested.

"Right!" Riiya agreed. Fuuko is left stunned.

(door bell rings)

Yanagi opens it.

"Tokiya-kun, Fuuko-chan!" Yanagi claimed.

"How're you, Fuuko," Shadow called.

"Shadow," Fuuko called.

"Yo, Fuuko-chan!" Domon claimed.

"Fuuko-san!" Ganko called.

"Fuuko!" Koganei called.

"Yo, what's up you brats!" Fuuko yelled boastfully. "Wind goddess is back!"

"She looks like a girl but her attitude still stinks," Koganei murmured in disappointment.

"And guess who's with them? It's Riiya-chan, isn't it?" Yanagi greeted charmingly.

"Hai!" Riiya claimed cheerfully.

Recca, who is inside, was surprised. He peeped out on them from behind.

"Riiya-chan!" Domon called. "Come here, you little rascal, give your uncle a big hug!"

Riiya sweatdropped.

"I think I'll pass," Riiya murmured taking a step backward.

Fuuko grinned and pushed little Riiya to Domon's direction and exclaimed, "Go get 'em, pest!"

Domon immediately hugged the little kid tight making him almost choke to death. Recca's eyes widened seeing the child's face near and realizes that he looks a lot like him.

Tokiya sweatdropped. Yanagi sweatdropped. Fuuko laughs.

"Hey guys! Don't forget about me!" Recca claimed with a cheery smile.

Yanagi smiled. Tokiya's eyes narrowed. Fuuko frowns and approaches Recca; she flicks on Recca's head. He groaned in pain.

"What the hell did you do that for!" Recca argued.

"I don't regret ignoring you," Fuuko said.

Recca smiled.

"You look like you've changed much but your attitude made me relieve," Recca complimented.

Fuuko was surprised but changed her mood as soon as she can.

"I don't remember telling you to flatter me," Fuuko said boastfully and walks through Recca.

"And I don't remember you, Fuuko, wearing a dress casually," Recca said.

"Whatever," Fuuko replied.

"She's doing that on purpose," Riiya claimed.

Fuuko froze.

"It's to make the people think she's a girl when actually, she's not!" Riiya added laughing.

Everybody laughed.

"What did you just say?" Fuuko asked angrily starting out a gush of wind.

"Otousan...-kaasan is turning into a monster again," Riiya shrugged to Tokiya childishly. Tokiya sweatdropped.

Fuuko got angry and started out a whirlwind across Recca's living room, ruining the order of the room.

"Hey Fuuko...you should learn to control yourself or you'll end up killing your own son," Tokiya said.

Fuuko calmed herself and started murmuring, "He's my son, I'm his mother..." over and over again.

"It's really difficult making these two get along with each other," Tokiya said.

"Hey Fuuko, I think you got yourself a little Recca here," Domon said laughing.

Fuuko froze but comments anyway, "My life is a curse," and slaps a hand on her face.

"Hey, what do you exactly mean by that, huh?" Recca demanded.

Yanagi laughs. Koganei laughs. Ganko laughs. Shadow laughs. Tokiya is staring at Fuuko.

* * *

Fuuko is contemplating at the roof of Recca's house while everyone hasn't notice that she's gone. 

"Hey,"

Fuuko turned hearing a call from behind. It's Recca.

"Oh, goodie. The reason I went outside for is here," she thought.

"What do you want?" Fuuko said.

"A chat," Recca said sitting beside her. "We haven't talked for quite a while, Fuuko,"

Fuuko remained silent.

"So how've you been?" Recca started.

"Fine," Fuuko answered briefly.

"You've grown into a fine woman, Fuuko. I didn't realize long hair suits you perfectly," Recca complimented.

"Since when did you learn to sweet-talk at me, huh Recca?" Fuuko asked. "I was always beautiful and you were always an idiot that's all; that's why you didn't know,"

Recca smiled. "Oh, is that so, huh?"

"Yeah, that's so," Fuuko said.

Silence.

"Do you still remember that place?" Recca asked pointing out the visible slide from the playground.

"Yeah...so what?" Fuuko said.

"That's where we always battle, right? Where you always dare to challenge me so that I'll become your ninja,"

"Oh yeah...right, so what?" Fuuko said coldly.

"Nothing. It just makes me feel proudly because you never won at me," Recca said boastfully lying on the roof surface.

"I don't like this talk. I'm going inside," Fuuko said standing up, about to leave.

Recca suddenly grips on Fuuko's hand.

"I've always dreamed about you, Fuuko," Recca said seriously. "I don't know how but, even though I haven't seen you for ages, I know what you'll look like and what your son would look like. My dream always rewinds up every time I sleep. Like a video...in my head."

Fuuko froze.

"Maybe it's just because I miss you that much...but...tell me, Fuuko...is Riiya really Tokiya's son?" Recca asked.

Fuuko was surprised but thinks of an idea fast. She brushes his hand away.

"Of course, he is, you idiot! Your little brain never improves, does it?" Fuuko replied angrily and leaves.

Recca is left defeated and alone. He smirks.

"You've defeated me for the first time, Fuuko...and you've used my desperation to talk to you to defeat me..." Recca murmured.

Fuuko immediately looks for an empty room around the house and, accidentally, she got herself into Recca's room.

There, she blurted out her pains. She didn't even get the chance to open up the lights to know what room she is in. She just jumped on the bed and cried her heart out.

"Damn you...you idiot..." she murmured.

The lights suddenly turned on. Fuuko gasps and looks behind. It's Tokiya.

"Fuuko..." Tokiya called lowly in surprise.

"Tokiya," Fuuko thought.

Tokiya sat beside her. She froze beside her, sobbing.

"What happened?" Tokiya asked.

Fuuko didn't reply.

"I noticed someone running towards this direction so I came up to check it out so..."

Fuuko remained frozen and silent beside him.

"I understand...I respect your privacy," Tokiya ended and stands up.

Fuuko bit her lower lip; she pulls Tokiya back on his seat and hugs him from behind.

Tokiya chuckles.

"What is it now?" Tokiya joked.

"Gomen nasai..." Fuuko sobbed.

* * *

Fuuko's day is ruined, just as she expected it. She had lost her control, just as she expected. She had made Tokiya feel discriminated, just as she expected. 

"I knew I shouldn't have come there," Fuuko murmured.

She turns and turns around the bed, like a child trying to brush away the thought of guilt.

"Watcha doin' –kaasan?" Riiya asked out of nowhere.

Fuuko almost fell from the bed in surprise.

"Don't scare me like that!" Fuuko yelled.

Riiya stares at his mom with obvious confusion and worry.

"Don't look at me like that. It makes me shiver to death," Fuuko said smiling wearily.

"Are you alright? Kaasan?" Riiya asked.

"Of course I am! What kind of question was that!" Fuuko boasted.

"You were acting pretty weird since yesterday," Riiya said with his head bowed low.

"Oh come on, stop that! A twerp like you doesn't suit a charming face," Fuuko said.

Riiya remained staring at his mother, still wearing an anguish face.

Fuuko erected and looked down on her anguish son. She kneels before him and hugs him tight. Riiya hugged his mom back.

"Aishiteru, -kaasan!" Riiya whispered.

Fuuko's heart melted like a heated butter. She couldn't resist her tears anymore. She broke down in her son's tiny arms.

For a five-year-old kid to understand her feelings is really something. It isn't what the other five-year-old kids would do when they see their moms with sad faces. They'd always ask questions and, most often, it ends up in misunderstanding.

Tokiya's right...Fuuko is lucky because she gave life to a clever boy.

* * *

Tokiya, at his office, is sitting quietly on his desk on the office he put up in his house on purpose. He is wearing a very serious face. 

"Fuuko always tries to tell me who Riiya's father is, but then, whenever I comfort her and threat her that it's okay as long as it's not Recca's son, she often pales out and shuts up," Tokiya thought. "And she was acting pretty weird yesterday..."

Tokiya's eyes narrowed.

"No way...No...but he could be...he really does look quite a lot like Hanabishi..."


	3. Recalling Pasts

Recalling Pasts

* * *

NOTE: I'm doing this, especially for my good readers. I love you all! You inspire me so much...(,)...

* * *

Tokiya is quietly reading a book while resting on the bed beside Fuuko. Fuuko is facing away from him. Her motionless obviously shows her embarrassment towards Tokiya. 

Fuuko stares at her wedding ring. It feels so weird to think that she's already married but she never felt so married to Tokiya. Maybe it's because of her guilt or something like that.

Fuuko's heart beats fast as Tokiya turned the lights off. She immediately went back to pretending that she's already asleep. She felt Tokiya moving to his sleeping form until there is complete silence.

"He's sleeping now," she thought.

After little more minutes that pass, Fuuko slowly crept out of the room and outside their house. The house is far too small for her to breathe so she came out to take some walk like she used to do at Aomori streets before they moved back to Tokyo for Riiya to start schooling.

Fuuko sits on a lonely bench of an empty park. It's too dark and dangerous for someone like her to wander around, but she didn't care. Fearing that accidents that may occur is nothing compare to her strong fear of Tokiya's discovery of the real identity of Riiya's father.

She sighs heavily, hoping someone could actually hear her and approach her for comfort...but there's no one around. She smiles at herself because of such silly thoughts that run through her mind.

She looks around and spots an interesting swing. She approaches it and sits on it. She recalls the days when she always wait for Recca to arrive so that she'll take another opportunity of beating him, but she always ends up being defeated. She chuckles as she remembers her whines and frowns when Recca laughs his heart out on her.

Her face fell as she recalls the last day when she and Recca had a fight and suddenly, Domon interfered.

"Maybe I should have just given up when I already decided it," she thought. She swings in and out slowly.

"Domon..." she whispered lowly with a very down look on her face.

She recalls all the moments that she shared with the Hokage...and Domon.

The sunny dangerous days that never gave her a frown when the thought of having a friendship of Hokage comes to her.

"I should've just given up when I already decided it," she said with gritted teeth and droplets of tears falling on her short skirt.

"Fuuko?" a voice called that gave a slight delight across her heavy heart. She turns with a joyous smile to the stranger that knows her.

It's Recca.

Fuuko gasps out silent air as she realizes the Recca is right there, next to her. Her face turned more sorrowful to the fact that her heart got heavier realizing the presence of the person that will never be gone in her life. She bows her head and reached out to her eyes to wipe out unnecessary tears on her conversation with him.

"What's wrong?" Recca asked.

Fuuko lights herself up and entertains herself with the swing. Recca peeps at her face. She's smiling, but there are still wet particles that tell she cried hard before.

Recca sat on another swing seat beside Fuuko, but he is facing the other direction that she does. He leans forward to rest his hand on his knees. He looks at Fuuko. She hasn't changed since the last he looked at her.

He bows down and calls out, "Fuu-"

"Do you still remember the day when we fight here?" Fuuko asked.

"Ah...yeah," he answered.

"Boy, it feels like it was just yesterday. It's funny 'cause I never gave up though I'm so annoyed at you," she laughed.

Recca smiled to the thought of Fuuko laughing, just like before.

"But you did have defeated me already," he said warmly.

Fuuko looks at Recca in confusion.

"Don't you remember? On our reunion...when you walked away on me, we were having a fight, right? You managed to get away from me," he said thinking it would help to comfort her more.

Fuuko froze at his words.

"Hoo-boy, does that mean I have to serve two princesses?" he joked.

Fuuko's happy smile turned to a depressed frown.

Recca noticed her silence.

"Fuuko? What's wrong?" he asked. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"A joke, right?" she cuts in. "It's just a joke, right?" she said with a cheery yet anguish and trembling voice.

"Fuuko-" Recca is about to let out words but Fuuko's tears that fall endlessly held his mouth shut.

"I know that, 'cause I'll never be suited to be your princess," she said out of loneliness and hurt.

"Fuuko,"

Fuuko wipes out her tears again and tries to smile again. Recca's head fell staring on the ground.

"Wakata..." she said lowly. "You dirtbag, you really are a jerk aren't you? Making a terrible joke like that. I'd get more depressed if you do that,"

Recca stands up and comes in front of her, still with a head faced down. Fuuko was stunned as she looks up on the shady face of Recca. Recca suddenly stands her up and hugs her tightly.

* * *

"I'm sorry...I'm not really good at comforting people. I'm sorry," he continuously said. 

"He's a real, genuine jerk," Fuuko murmured as she walks silently on the dark streets to their house. "He made me weak again,"

Fuuko holds out her mouth to cease her crying moans. She inhales deeply and exhales hard; she shakes her head.

She clenched her fists and collide them to each other real hard.

"Darn Recca, I won't let you make me cry again!" she claimed making the few people around her, look at her.

* * *

Recca contemplates on the dark living room of his house. The lights on the stairs suddenly opened, so did the lights on the living room. Yanagi's gentle and worried face was revealed. 

"Recca?" she called.

Recca looks up to her with an anguish face.

"What's wrong, Recca?" she asked as she approaches him.

Recca pulls her close and leans his head on her tummy, obviously looking for comfort.

"Can you stay here for a while, please?" he begged with his depressed voice.

Yanagi looks at him in pity and runs her fingers across his hair.

* * *

Fuuko slowly crept inside the house and back to their room. Tokiya was still as he was when she left him. Fuuko gently and slowly slides back to the place she was before Tokiya slept. 

She got to her place successfully even after a few bulges to Tokiya. She sighed.

"Where have you been?" Tokiya asked.

Fuuko gasps as the beat of her heart have risen in a split second when she hears his voice.

"Just took a walk...Did I wake you?" she answered playing coolly on him to keep him from noticing her anxiety.

"No," he replied. "I was awake even before you left,"

Tokiya turns and forces out an arm underneath her. Fuuko's pulse went faster as she found herself trapped in Tokiya's arms.

"You're shaking too much, Fuuko." Tokiya whispered in her ear.

Fuuko couldn't say a word in so much tension that conquers her.

"Ooohh...what now?" she thought.

Tokiya turns her around making her meet his eyes. Fuuko is totally frozen beside him. It's been 5 years, yes, and everything has changed towards them. They're more of a couple now...but what exactly was the thing that makes her tremble so much?

It was only then when Fuuko realizes all of that.

Tokiya just stared at her frozen image next to him.

"To..." Fuuko tried to call. Tokiya cuts her in with a kiss.

He kisses her. Surprised Fuuko couldn't resist her husband and replies his kiss. Their kiss has gotten totally intensive, but Tokiya didn't get farther than that.

"Why do you respect me this much, Tokiya?" Fuuko thought as she caresses his face. Tokiya looks so handsome while asleep. His arms are now looser than before but she still feels his arms trying to keep her close to him.

"I know how much you hate Recca..." she thought anguishly. "What would you do if you find out that Riiya is Recca's son?"

Fuuko rests her head on his shoulder.

"You don't know how much you make me hesitate things, Tokiya," Fuuko murmured subconsciously.

Tokiya is still awake without Fuuko realizing it.

* * *

Early morning...Fuuko realized that Tokiya is already gone. Fuuko immediately fixes up for the day and made her way downstairs. 

"Darn it...Am I late again?" Fuuko thought.

She was startled when she saw Riiya doing up the dishes.

Riiya turned to look at her. Fuuko is frozen solid as she imitates him for Recca.

"Ah. Ohayo, -kaasan!" Riiya claimed. Fuuko smiled weakly.

"Why are you still here? Aren't you supposed to be dropped to school by your dad?" Fuuko asked.

"Otousan has to leave early so I told him to go on without me. He just prepared breakfast and left. I'll just walk to school," Riiya said.

Fuuko got confused. "I wonder what happened," she thought.

"No, I'll take you to school," Fuuko said.

Riiya was surprised but smiles anyway.

"Hai,"

* * *

NOTE: Oh darn...I'm sorry. I made this chapter too short, but this chapter is actually the one that helped me get more ideas. I won't let you down, readers! I'll do whatever it takes to entertain you with my work..! 


	4. One who Truly Loves

One who Truly Loves

Fuuko stares at her jolly son. Riiya looks up at Fuuko and holds on to her hand.

"What are you smiling about you freaky brat!" Fuuko said.

"It's new to have –kaasan drop me off to school," he said. Fuuko is stunned at what he had said and smiled. She grips his tiny hand; Riiya looks up at her. She smiled at him warmly.

"What are you smiling at, you freaky old granny?" Riiya said.

Fuuko got enraged at his words and pulls him up to look straightly at him.

"Say that again, you brat..." Fuuko dared with eyes all fiery with anger.

Riiya sweatdropped as he stares scared at his mother.

After a small lovely, er usual bond of a mother and child, Riiya runs to the school gate to meet up his adviser. He looks back at his mother and waves cheerfully at her.

"Bye, -kaasan! Arigato!" he claimed loudly.

Fuuko smiled in acknowledge of him and waved back. Riiya's adviser smiled at Fuuko; Fuuko smiled back. When she gave out a final wave to her son, she turns and leaves the place.

Riiya's adviser got lower to adjust to Riiya's height and whispered, "So, she's your mom?"

"Hai!" Riiya answered proudly. "She's the greatest mom in the world!"

* * *

Tokiya is still preoccupied with thought of Fuuko confessing to him that Riiya is actually his archrival's child. Recca may have gotten over it, but he still hasn't, because he knows that Fuuko's first love is always Recca. She just hasn't realized it up to now.

He swore to himself that he'll take a grudge on Fuuko if ever Riiya is Recca's son but he just can't give a grudge on her. He loves her too much to hate her...so is Riiya...his heart will tear up if he gets to be apart from them.

Tokiya digs his head to his arms. He doesn't know what to believe anymore, what to do anymore. His mind is now full of hesitations.

Tokiya suddenly got lightened up and sits up straight in confidence.

"There is no proof that Fuuko had a son to Recca. No one will know. I'll forget it. Fuuko will never leave me. I trust her; she trusts me, too. If ever there is a proof, I'll destroy it. I won't let it take my family away from me," Tokiya thought and stands up from his seat. He puts on his coat and goes out of his office.

"Yuko-san," he called on to his secretary.

"Hai, Mikagami-san?" his secretary replied.

"I'll be out for today. Take care of everything for now. I'll be back tomorrow. If there are problems, call me at home. Understand?" he ordered.

"Hai," his secretary confirmed.

Tokiya completely left his office and heads home.

* * *

"Nani!" Fuuko claimed out of surprise.

"You heard me, you're fired! You're useless. You can't even cook an ordinary fried egg!" the manager said.

"I understand that you are firing me but what I didn't like to what you said is that-" Fuuko ignites a cast of whirring wind in the kitchen, almost destroying the place. "you called me 'a terrible cook'!"

The manager got scared, so is the other chefs, and screams his heart out.

Fuuko trashes out the chef hat she was wearing and looks back angrily at the restaurant.

"Darn manager. 'Terrible cook', huh? I will make your life miserable," Fuuko murmured.

Fuuko walks to her house but then, she was ceased by a newspaper boy claiming out the latest news in town. Fuuko buys one and sits on one of the benches on the park. She instantly opened the job marketing newspaper and searched for a good source of work.

Meanwhile, Tokiya is busy checking out Fuuko's personal diaries and boxes in search for any proof that Riiya is Recca's son. Unlucky for him because Fuuko is not really the kind of girl who is interested in cherishing too many memories in her place; she thinks it's insanity.

Tokiya finally gave up and sighs heavily in defeat. He laughs at himself at the thought that he is like a thief trying to steal and destroy one of Recca's property.

The doorbell suddenly alarmed the empty and quiet house. Tokiya stands up to answer the door.

It's Yanagi.

"Yanagi-san," Tokiya said. Yanagi smiled.

"Oh good, you're here. I'm just going to return Fuuko's videocam," Yanagi said.

"Ah, hai,"

"Arigato, Mikagami-kun," Yanagi said. "Well, I still have some work to do. Please tell Fuuko thanks. I'll be seeing you,"

"Uh, yeah. Sure," he said and waves at her.

As Yanagi's image disappears from his sight, he stares at Fuuko's videocam. The only thing that he hasn't checked up on.

Fuuko fell asleep at the bench she was sitting with the newspaper on her lap. The back of her head is leaned of the support of the bench. Her mouth is a bit open and anyone that passes by could hear her snore.

She didn't realize that hours and hours have passed and Riiya's class was already dismissed. Riiya always gets to pass by the park when going home; that time, he catches out his mom sleeping on the park. The pages of Fuuko's newspaper flew away piece by piece taking them to the other people on the park.

A guard approaches Fuuko and shrugs her to wake her up, but Fuuko only replied with a slap on the man's face. The guard got angry and yells on her.

Riiya sweatdropped watching his mom.

The people on the park watches the guard handles with Fuuko. As he gets angrier, Fuuko is falling asleep deeper. She even gets to kick off the guard to unconsciousness.

Riiya slaps a hand on his forehead and shakes his head. He came to the thought of approaching her and inviting her to head home with him, but he thought of it as a very bad idea. He walks home alone but gets to see a group of commoner boys of his age playing at the children's side of the park.

It's still early anyway so he approaches them.

"Can I play?" Riiya asked.

The boys look at him in a very unwelcoming manner and smiled very evilly at him.

"Sure," the biggest boy said. "But you have to do something first,"

"Sure. What is it?" Riiya said cheerfully in rejoice of having new friends.

The big boy hands out a finger pointing to the necklace he's wearing. It's the necklace Fuuko gave him on his 5th birthday.

"Give us that necklace," he said.

Riiya holds the shiny spherical pendant and looks at them.

"No. Anything but this," Riiya said.

"Anything...hmmm...buy us ice cream," he said.

Riiya got scared at the realization that he chose quite bad little boys to play with him. He hides the necklace on his shirt and stands in front of them confidently with an angry face.

"No!" he yelled.

"Why? Are you going to fight back? Huh?" the smaller boy pushes him.

Riiya got angrier and glares at him with an evil grin like they did to him earlier.

"Why not?" he said and suddenly a seed of flame suddenly ignited on the smaller boy's sleeve.

The boys panic and ran away from him. They came rushing to their parents pointing out Riiya. The parents look at him and seeing that Riiya seem to be harmless, they ignored the things that their child told them.

Riiya walks away and smiles evilly as he leaves; not knowing that there is someone who witnessed the incident. Yanagi Sakoshita. She's holding her mouth and her eyes are staring out in surprise.

Tokiya is staring at the blank opened TV. The used tapes are in front of him, disorganized and everywhere in the room. His head bowed low, staring on the floor. His mind is grieving in anger but his heart is grieving in distress.

The video is the proof he has been looking for. The proof that tells Riiya is really Recca's son.

Riiya opens the door.

"Tadai ma!" he claimed.

The empty-looking house made Tokiya hear Riiya's voice even on a sealed door. Tokiya was surprised; Riiya's voice made him form a tear at last.

Riiya felt someone is around the house and followed the noise he hears. He found himself in front of his parents' room and a dimly gash of light creeping out the door's feet. He opens it slowly and finds Tokiya sitting depressingly on the side of the bed, in front of the blank opened TV.

"Otousan?" he called weakly.

Tokiya looks at him and smiles wearily.

"Doshite, otousan?" he asked approaching him slowly.

Tokiya reaches out Riiya's small hand when he got closer. He pulls him gently to get him closer and hugs him tight.

"Otousan?" he called again.

Tokiya is sobbing silently on his foster child's shoulder, with his teeth gritted and eyes closed tightly.

That night, when Fuuko and Riiya were completely asleep, he goes out of the house and starts out a fire on a small can. He puts out the tape on flames and watches it get destroyed as the flame creeps into the film of the tape.

"I won't let you take another precious thing in my life, Hanabishi Recca..."

* * *

"He looks so much like Recca...and he could cast flames too. Could it really be possible?" Yanagi thought as she stares out on the night sky.

Her eyes become misty.

"Oh, tell me Recca-kun...what I should believe now?" she said hiding her face with her palms.

A flick on her window was suddenly heard and took her attention. Yanagi looks down and sees Recca waving below. He smiles at her cheerfully and points up to the sky. Yanagi looks up and suddenly fireworks began to show.

Yanagi's heavy heart was cheered up by Recca's little surprise. She looks down to Recca; he is holding a banner sign that says: "Happy Birthday, Princess"

She couldn't keep herself together anymore and her tears continuously fall in joy. She hurriedly went downstairs and outside to see Recca. She runs to him and hugs him.

"Hime," Recca said smiling.

"Thank you, Recca-kun," she said.

* * *

It's Saturday. Fuuko still hasn't got to get a good and permanent job. She's already been fired 3 times in a row that week. She's like a student looking for a temporary part time job.

"Darn managers...they're the reason why I look older than I age," Fuuko murmured gloomily.

Out of nowhere, she suddenly gets to see her son walking down the streets holding a paper on his hand. Fuuko approaches him and taps him on the head.

"Where are you going, little squirt?" Fuuko asked demandingly.

"To the grocery, big monster," he answered directly.

"What did you just say?" she warned.

"Come on, old lady. I'm busy right now. Go away," Riiya said and continues walking.

Stunned Fuuko hasn't seen her child talk as if he is really in an important duty. But...

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!" she screamed. "Come back here you little rat!"

Riiya turns to her calmly.

"That's why you can't get a good job, because you can't even win on me. Your own son...tch!" Riiya said calmly and walks away.

"NANI!" Fuuko totally enraged, turns and holds up her head repeating out her calming ritual. "He's my son, I'm his mother...he's my son, I'm his mother..."

"Hey Fuuko, is that the latest trend right now?" Recca claimed.

Fuuko looks up with angry eyes. Recca is a few steps away from her and he's with Yanagi.

"Son gets better than mom...haha...what a total loser!" he said loudly.

"I dare you...say that again..." Fuuko warned in a low and angry voice, putting on the device on her hand.

"I'll say it as much as you want...YOU'RE A LOSER!" Recca yelled.

Fuuko curls up the wind around her and started chasing Recca who continuous bullying her.

Riiya turns to look back on his mother. He sweatdropped.

"I really can't believe she's my mother," he murmured, sighing depressingly.

Riiya finally reached his destination and took the things Tokiya had ordered him to buy. When he finished doing the grocery, he decided to go home early. On the way, he gets to encounter the group of boys he once met before. They seem to be in a commotion. He goes to them to check them up.

It turns out that one of them had an accident. One of them suddenly ran and claiming out, "Mom, that boy killed Jiro-kun. I told you...he's a devil!"

Riiya was surprised and got tenser when the other kids around him went farther from him.

"He once attempted to kill me with his evil fire," the boy said.

The mother of the one who had an accident came rushing and blames it all to Riiya. Riiya, scared and nervous, couldn't say a word.

Suddenly, a sound of a whistle took the attention of the crowd. It was Recca.

"Okay, what the heck is the commotion here?" Recca demanded.

"Hanabishi-san," Riiya called.

"Hey pip squeak," Recca replied and places a hand on his shoulder.

"So...what's the problem here?" he asked again.

"Your son killed my son!" the mother screamed. Recca sweatdropped in surprise.

"Uh...okay. If he really is the one who killed your son, what proof do you have?" he asked.

"His death is enough proof for that!" she yelled.

"Then why don't we do some testing?" he asked.

"Testing?"

"Right. I'll have to scalpel a little of his flesh to see how he really died. Are you approving of that?" Recca said.

"Scalpel? You mean like an autopsy? You'll slice down my son to every bit of his flesh!" the mother yelled.

Recca nodded.

The boy lying on the ground suddenly trembled and sits up like a normal healthy kid does. The people around him are all stunned.

"What a miracle! A true, reincarnated boy," Recca said looking straightly at the boy. "And we didn't even have to pray for him,"

The mother strikes out her son, so are the other moms of the boys who claimed that Riiya is evil. The mothers apologized and go away.

Recca is left with a smile on his face. Riiya, below him, is still all teary with the experience he had. Recca knelt to face him and places a hand on his head.

"You all right, kid?" he asked.

Riiya nodded, and then suddenly broke down in tears. Yanagi, behind them, approaches them and pats Riiya at the back for comfort.

* * *

Recca carries Riiya at his back. Yanagi helped Recca in carrying Riiya's things and she supports the back of Riiya.

Yanagi stares at Recca as he smiles happily, and gets to notice Riiya as he holds his pendant tightly.

"What's wrong, Riiya?" she asked kindly.

"I miss my mom...she's the one who strengthens at this point," he answered.

"You're mom isn't a real girl," Recca joked.

"Mom may be acting like a guy, but she does that on purpose. To think of it, she's the only child in their family. Mom helps me grow stronger...she makes me happy. I may have only a few memories about her being sweet to me, but that's the reason why I'm like this. It's all because of her..." Riiya said breaking in tears. "Many people have told me they love me while my Mom never told me those words, but I know...she's that person who truly loves me."

Recca smiled at what he just heard.

"Mom..." he called lowly but cheerfully.

He looks up front and sees Fuuko on his gate.

When Fuuko sees them arriving, she ran towards them with a heartfelt joy. She suddenly pokes Riiya on the head.

"ITAI!" he screamed.

Recca and Yanagi gasp.

"Fuuko-chan!" Yanagi claimed.

"That's for making me worry, you little pest!" Fuuko yelled.

Riiya shrugs Recca to bring him down, and he did. Riiya approaches his angry mom and hugs her.

"Aishiteru, -kaasan!" Riiya said.

Fuuko astonishes at his gesture. She smiles warmly and glides her hand in his head. Riiya takes Fuuko's hand and says, "Let's go home now, obaa-san,"

Fuuko berserks; She kicks Riiya to the ground and steps on him with her foot.

"Say that again and you won't go home alive!" she claimed.

Recca and Yanagi sweatdropped.

"Right, I was wrong," Riiya said brushing away the dirt on his shirt. "You're not a grandma, you're a witch!"

Fuuko, surprised, got angry and puts on her device starting out a deadly wind around her.

"That's it. You're dead," she said.

Riiya runs away with his things to their home. Fuuko chases him with her destructive wind.

* * *

"Yanagi-chan, thanks for taking care of my Riiya for me. I hate to say this but thanks too, Recca," Fuuko said on the answering machine.

"Haha...When we meet again, I'll demand her two tickets for the latest movie. I good treat huh, Yanagi-hime?" Recca laughed evilly.

Yanagi smiled warmly seeing his cheerful and lively behavior.

* * *

NOTE: So what do you think? Do I have what it takes to be a Recca/Fuuko fic writer. Review please... 


	5. A Parent's Instinct

Chapter 5: A Parent's Instinct

Recca stares at hand while he is at his dimmed room lying lazily on his bed. He places it on his chest and closes his eyes.

"Why do I felt so happy when that kid got close to me? And...why is it that when that woman said 'your son', it feels so real to me?" he thought. "I felt sad when Fuuko went home with him...it feels like...a part of me is with them..."

"...why..."

* * *

Riiya is sitting on the bed of Tokiya and Fuuko's room. He's watching cartoons. Fuuko comes out of the bathroom on a bathrobe and a towel to wipe dry out her hair. Riiya watches his mom as she walks around the room; Fuuko notices him and faces him. 

"What are you looking at, you spoiled brat?" Fuuko asked.

Riiya shakes his head with an unusual warm smile on his face. Fuuko raises an eyebrow at him.

"You seem harmless today...what have you eaten?" she said.

"Nothing...well...talk about food, can you cook me something, mom? I'm hungry," he whined. Fuuko smiled at him and sighs.

"Get yourself fixed, we're eating outside," she said.

Riiya stands up and closes the TV.

"This is the only time I get to see a mother who can't do anything...How useless," he murmured as he leaves their room. Fuuko, behind him, is already chanting out her calming spell.

After a while, Fuuko got ready earlier than her son. She is hastily looking for the tape she knew that could have gotten with the videocam that Recca borrowed.

Fuuko got tenser and tenser when the thought of Recca seeing it increases in her mind. Riiya goes to her room to meet up his mom.

"What are you looking for, -kaasan?" he asked.

Fuuko bumps her head on the cabinet in surprise of his presence.

"Ah, nothing," she confirmed with her hand rubbing her head.

Fuuko stands up and takes her things. She approaches him and gets to notice his collar inside out. She kneels down and arranges his clothes. Riiya stares at her with a smile. In so much amusement, he reaches out his tiny hands to her cheeks and kisses her on the nose. Fuuko's heart melted at Riiya's move.

"Iikuze, -kaasan," he said.

Fuuko nods smiling at him and stands up. She takes his hand and they finally left the house.

Fuuko tooks her son to the food stalls where she used to buy food back when she was just a kid. After buying, she brought him to the park.

"Did you like them?" Fuuko asked.

Riiya mouth is full with food when he looks up at her but he hastily swallows them and says, "Be thankful that I'm hungry; this food stinks!"

Fuuko berserks at his words but she holds on her forehead to calm herself. She sits back on the bench. She sighs.

Silence.

Riiya looks at his mom and felt guilty.

"Mom..." he lowly called.

"You know, back when I was just a little girl, in this place, I met an arrogant boy who always ends up on a fight with other boys in this place. He always talks about ninjas; he even said that if you get to lose him on a one-on-one match, he'll claim you as his master or his princess. And you know what?" said Fuuko. "I don't know why, but it made me got interested and I tried to lose him for many times,"

"So that means, -kaasan likes the boy. Isn't it?" Riiya said.

"Maybe," Fuuko said looking down on him smiling. "but that boy found his princess,"

"Really? He actually lost to a girl?"

"No...because he felt it...in here," Fuuko said pointing out on Riiya's chest, pertaining to his heart.

Riiya frowned.

"That boy is not fair! He meant one-on-one fight. That shouldn't include having a crush!" he complained.

Fuuko smiled watching at her son.

"I won't really put it that way. I actually want you to realize that when you found someone and wants to be with that one, don't ever give up. Protect that person or be that person's strength," Fuuko said. "You're growing Riiya. You should learn to decide on your own now. You're the only one who knows what would be best for you. You understand?"

Riiya nodded.

"If you do that, you'll find your own light to see the place where you really want to be," Fuuko said.

Riiya takes a food and eats silently. Fuuko rubs her son's head gently.

"I will always want you to be with me, Mom," Riiya whispered lowly. Fuuko heard it and smiled warmly.

"Mom will never leave you. You will always be Mom's little knight Riiya...even if you're a brat," she laughed.

Riiya looks up on her smiling.

"Mom really never says those words, but I'm happy..." Riiya thought.

Recca roams around the park and notices Fuuko and her son's presence. He found Fuuko smiling and suddenly cramps when she looks at the tower clock. She stands up and apologizes to Riiya and quickly runs away. Riiya was left confused.

Recca smiled at when he had seen, much to his happiness, he approaches Riiya.

"Yo kid!" Recca claimed.

Riiya looks up on him and smiles.

"Konnichiwa, Hanabishi-san," he greeted politely.

"Can I join you?" he asked.

Riiya moves aside to give him more space; Recca sits beside him. Riiya continues eating his food. Recca smiles as he watches him.

"I'm feeling that feeling again," he thought.

"So how's your dad and mom?" he asked to break the silence between the two again. Riiya looks up at him.

"They're fine. Dad is on a trip today. Mom is doing work for a while. She said it's better if the both of them work hard," Riiya said.

"Your dad's on a trip? Where?" Recca asked.

"It's back to our home. He used to have a boss there. He said he needs dad," Riiya said. "He may be back after a couple of days,"

"You mean back at Aomori?" Recca asked.

"Aomori?" Riiya thought for a while and remembers his mom say the word Aomori on her chat with Tokiya. "Hai!" he replied to Recca.

"What a smart kid," Recca thought and rubs Riiya's head.

Recca suddenly felt the feeling of delight. A feeling that makes him wants to hold the child in his arms.

"You wanna go somewhere?" Recca asked.

Riiya looks up cheerfully and nods.

"Where do you wanna go? I'll just be your company," Recca said.

"Can we go to the amusement park? Mom used to tell me about going to amusement parks for several times with her friends, including you," Riiya said.

"Sure," Recca said. "I'll take you to the places which your mom love the most,"

"YAY!" Riiya cheered and pulls Recca's hand.

"Hey, slow down, kid. We have all day," Recca said.

Recca first took him to the amusement park where he, Yanagi, Fuuko and Domon went. The place where he first get to encounter a fight with Tokiya.

In roaming around, Recca carries Riiya on his shoulder. Riiya holds on to Recca's forehead for support.

"Your dad and I used to be archenemies back on our high school days," Recca said. "and he's a pretty tough fighter,"

"Really?" Riiya said.

Recca nodded.

"I hate to say this but if it weren't for Hime, I might be a dead guy now," he said.

"Hime?" Riiya asked.

"Yep, Hime. She's the person I am and will always protect even if it costs my life," Recca said.

"So you're the ninja Mom was talking about," Riiya said in a low tone of voice in disappointment.

"What was that?" Recca asked.

"The guy that said that if he gets to lose to someone, he'll claim him or her as master or princess," Riiya said.

"You're a really smart little guy, aren't you?" Recca praised.

"You're not being fair! That girl didn't even fight you!" Riiya yelled.

Recca saw the furiousness the child was showing and chuckles.

"You know, I once had a dream and I was kneeling down in front of her. She was the most down-to-earth princess I've ever known. She gave me another life back then you know," he said. "And that wasn't the only time she did that,"

Riiya was astonished at what Recca has said.

"Do you understand now? I didn't even know that she'll be my princess. I just felt it," he said.

"I see...just like Mom said," Riiya said. "but Mom...she fought you...many times..."

Recca puts the boy down and leveled down to his eyes.

"I really don't think your mom still wants me to be his ninja anymore, because I see that she's got a stronger and wiser protector than me even for such a little body," Recca said.

Riiya smiles charmingly in reply. Recca rubs Riiya's head and stands up but still looking at him.

"So...where do you wanna go next, sport?" Recca asked.

"Everywhere!" Riiya answered lively.

"Everywhere? That's kinda hard for the two of us. We only have one body," Recca smiled.

Riiya laughs. Recca looks at him with a warm smile.

"Let's go then," Recca said taking his tiny hand.

Recca took Riiya to the school where they all went and told him some stories about their past. He then took him to the places where he contemplates and Fuuko always suddenly pops out and challenges him. Recca also gave him a small treat of ride to their old home where his Mom is staying.

"Your mom is a pretty big fan of my Mom. She thinks Mom will always be a perfect model for every woman," Recca said. "You know...strong heart, strong mind, strong body..."

The big main door suddenly opens. It's Shadow.

"Oh it's you," she said and notices a boy with him.

"Oh hello there," Shadow greeted. "It's Riiya, right? Fuuko's son?"

"Hai!" Riiya replied shyly and smiling at her.

"...and pretty face," Recca added looking at Riiya. Riiya looks at him.

"What was that?" Shadow asked.

"It was nothing. Hi mom," Recca said. "just came 'cause Riiya likes to visit,"

"That's so sweet. Coming to visit me. I wish I had you for a son instead of this useless one," Shadow joked. Riiya blushed.

"Hey what do you mean by that, huh?" Recca whined.

"Well, at least you're just in time. I was planning to have some tea," Shadow said cheerfully pulling Riiya inside.

Shadow immediately prepared some tea and snacks for them. As soon as she finishes, she served it to them right away. She also made some sweets for Riiya.

"A tea always goes best with sweets," Shadow said when she laid a small plate of sweets in front of Riiya.

"Thank you, ma'am," Riiya said as he tastes in the sweets that Shadow offered him.

Recca and Shadow smile at him. Riiya smiles back shyly.

"It kinda feels funny but I feel like I'm actually at home right now," Riiya said shyly.

Shadow and Recca were surprised at his words and smile at him.

"I bet your mom's doing a great job on you. You are pretty wise for a pre-elementary boy," Shadow praised.

Riiya smiled humbly.

* * *

Riiya fell asleep at Recca's room as the hours go by, still holding on to one of Recca's oldest ninja toys. Recca smiles happily while watching Riiya sleep. Shadow joined him when she passed by Recca's room and noticed Recca's jolly face.

"I don't know Mom but this boy makes me feel so happy when I see him or I'm with him," Recca said. "I don't get tired taking care of him. It feels that all my fatigue are worn out when I'm with him,"

Shadow looks at Recca with a surprised look.

"No, it can't be..." Shadow thought.

* * *

"Darn it, I really hate owing you something." Fuuko whined.

"Heh...relax. I volunteered to babysit this kid. It's fine. 'Thank you' could go with it," Recca said while carrying the sleeping Riiya at his back.

"You're pretty kind today. Is there something wrong? You ate something?" Fuuko said.

Recca laughed. "Just allow me to go out with this kid some other time. I'm fine with it,"

Fuuko's eyes widened in surprise and her hands trembled in nervousness.

"I never felt so happy like this. You're son is great. I'm sure he'll be a fine man when he grows up," Recca said.

"Did he find out?" Fuuko thought in the anxiety that Recca really might have watched the video tape that tells that Riiya is his son.

"Tokiya's lucky. He got to have a good son and a pretty wife," Recca complimented smiling at Fuuko.

Fuuko got confused at his words.

"I don't get it..." she thought.


	6. All for One's Sake

NOTE: O my dear readers, you're the reason why I am so very inspired! Thank you so much for reading my work...:')

* * *

Chapter 6: All for One's Sake

Fuuko granted Recca's request of taking care of Riiya when she doesn't have time to do so. Recca is too happy that he didn't mind having Riiya even during his dates with his fiancée, Yanagi. Yanagi didn't mind because she sees that Recca gets interested with kids but her suspicion of Riiya being related to Recca makes her mood get bitter.

"See ya later, squirt!" Recca waved. Riiya waves cheerfully while he leaves with Fuuko.

Recca still had a cheerful smile on his face even if Riiya and Fuuko's figure has already disappeared. Yanagi watches Recca with a sad face.

"That kid made me think of naughty kids differently," he said smiling. "Right, Hime?" he looks at Yanagi and notices the sad look on her face.

"Hime...something wrong?" Recca asked in worry.

Yanagi grips on her hands tightly obviously hesitating to speak.

"Hime?" Recca called softly. Yanagi looks at Recca in his eyes in a serious expression.

"I understand that you're getting quite interested with kids but...why does it have to be like...like you're actually treating this child like your own," Yanagi said frankly without thinking.

Recca's eyes widened in surprise of her speech; he looks at her sadly. Yanagi is biting her lip.

"Hime..."

* * *

"Fuuko, I really can't help not notice that Riiya's getting often to Recca's place even on weekends," Tokiya said.

Fuuko was astonished; she smiles at him.

"Well, I guess it's the result of allowing him to take care of Riiya. You know that guy. His hopeless...once he gets the chance to do something, he gets the best of it," Fuuko said.

"Oh...I see. So strange...for someone like him who always had a hard time dealing with kids," Tokiya said.

Fuuko froze and looks at him in surprise. As if she's scared of him.

"That's a good improvement...I never thought Recca would actually still mature in his attitude," Tokiya chuckled and leaves the room.

Fuuko is left confused as well as scared. She falls, sitting on the bed, stunned and all spaced-out.

* * *

Saturday. Riiya just woke up and eats breakfast along with his parents. Silence is eating them all. Tokiya is watching Riiya with a smile on his face. Fuuko looks at him cautiously. Not too long, Tokiya finishes his coffee and stands up.

"Well, I'm off now. I have a meeting at around 8," Tokiya claimed. Fuuko assists him in preparing to leave. She arranges his coat nicely on him. Tokiya is staring at her. Fuuko knows but she only bites her lip to conceive her trembling. Riiya is enjoying himself as he watches his parents.

Fuuko almost jumped in surprise when Tokiya kissed her lips in gesture of his departure. Tokiya left.

Riiya is smiling while he's staring at his mom. Fuuko turns and looks at her son when she noticed him staring too long. She raises an eyebrow.

"What are you staring at, you brat?" Fuuko said.

Riiya smiles at her cheerfully.

"You're freaking me out. Stop that," Fuuko said.

Riiya frowned and sticks out a tongue at her. Fuuko ignored him. Riiya stares at her.

"You're not going to Recca's place anymore. Clear?" Fuuko said seriously.

Riiya just stares at her, smiling.

"Do you understand me?" Fuuko asked. Riiya nods.

Fuuko sighs.

"You may still see Recca, but only once or twice for a week. Understand?" Fuuko said. "Once or twice for a week ONLY,"

Riiya nods. Fuuko sighs.

Silence.

"I see," said Riiya. "You're being like that because you miss me,"

Fuuko looks at Riiya; he's smiling at her. Fuuko smiles back warmly.

"Stop that. You're freaking me out," Riiya said.

Fuuko hits him on the head.

Riiya didn't go to Recca's place as he had promised to Fuuko. Fuuko is quite grateful that her son understands her easily.

Recca, on the other hand, is quite mystified to the fact that Riiya didn't come as he had expected. Much to his bewilderment, he calls Riiya at their home. Luckily for him, Fuuko is recently still looking for the video tape so Riiya is the one who answered the phone.

"Hey kid, how come you haven't come here yet?" Recca asked.

"Well..." Riiya looks around to see if his mom is somewhere near. "Mom didn't let me this time. She said we should meet only once or twice for a week. Maybe that includes weekends,"

"I see...then I'll be the one to come to your house," Recca said.

Riiya gasps and cheers. Much to his delight, he didn't notice that Fuuko is right behind him. Fuuko snatches the phone from his hand.

"Who the heck are you?" she demanded.

"Hey Fuuko. How're you doing?" Recca greeted.

Fuuko's eyes narrowed at Riiya.

"What do you want? We're busy," Fuuko said.

"Nothing. Just called to check up on Riiya," Recca replied.

Fuuko came to the thought of asking him out of grave curiosity.

"Recca..." she called lowly.

"Yeah?"

"When you borrowed my camera, did you see a tape without a label?" Fuuko asked.

"Sorry, but I didn't check up on them. When I borrowed it, I only used the camera. I didn't move the tapes in there. I swear you," Recca said.

Fuuko's hand froze when her thoughts only focused to Tokiya.

"Fuuko?" Recca called.

"Hey Fuuko? You there?"

Riiya snatches the telephone from his mother's hand.

"Well, I'll be seeing you later, Hanabishi-san!" Riiya said cheerfully.

Recca, confused, replied, "Uh...okay,"

* * *

The doorbell rang. Riiya answered it. It's Recca.

"Hey, little guy," Recca greeted. Riiya pulls him in.

Recca looks around and notices Fuuko in the kitchen; she looks troubled.

"Hey Fuuko, what's the thing that made you think for the first time!" Recca claimed.

Fuuko looks at him and ignores. She stands up and goes upstairs.

"What's with your mom?" Recca asked.

"I don't know. She's been like that since last night," Riiya answered.

"Last night, huh?"

Recca and Riiya watch TV, played, and goes out and in of the house. Recca always manages to make Riiya get the fun he wants. Fuuko just let them. When Recca made Riiya take is nap, he goes to Fuuko.

"What's up?" Recca asked evenly.

Fuuko looks at him. She shakes her head gently. Recca sits beside her.

"You don't look good," Recca said. "Is it Riiya? Or...Tokiya?"

Fuuko's eyes widened when she heard Tokiya's name.

"You got to a fight? Is it his video?" Recca asked. Her eyes went weak in tears; Fuuko closes them.

"Shut up," she said and stands up.

"Take him out to eat when he wakes up. Come back early," Fuuko said and walks away.

Recca was left confused.

* * *

Tokiya is wordless since the time that he bumps into Recca when he got home. Fuuko is almost frozen on her seat. Riiya looks at them alternately. He feels the awkwardness between them.

"I let him go here because I see that Riiya really wants him to," Fuuko said breaking out the deafening silence in them.

"I understand," Tokiya said. Fuuko looks at him; he's smiling.

"It's all for Riiya, right?" Tokiya said. Fuuko was tormented hearing that. She sees that he's smiling but she feels the pain he's feeling like he's being left-out.

Fuuko couldn't do anything but bite her lip and bow down in embarrassment.

"-kaasan told me not to go to Hanabishi-san's house today. He called when he got curious about the situation. He suggested me that he'll come here instead, I just agreed with him without -kaasan's permission," Riiya explained.

Tokiya smiles at him and places a hand on his head. Riiya looks at him with a sight of worry.

"Are you still angry?" he asked.

Tokiya shakes his head lightly, still smiling at him.

"I'm not angry anymore,"

* * *

Bedtime. Riiya begged Fuuko to make him sleep...and he really had a hard time convincing her.

Fuuko's heart is all weak when Riiya prefers falling asleep in her arms. Fuuko runs her fingers through her little Riiya's hair. Riiya suddenly looks up at her.

"Were you and Dad fighting?" Riiya asked.

Fuuko was stunned and shoves the thought away by smiling at him.

"No. Dad just got a bit jealous," Fuuko laughs.

"Dad is cold these days. I also notice him staring at me most of the time. I attempted to ask him one time, but I couldn't because he smiles at me. I feel...scared," he said.

"Dad may be just got a lot of work and I know he's tired. He might just be borrowing some strength from you," Fuuko said. She holds his face and looks at his eyes.

"I want you to be strong for Dad, okay? He gets his energy from you," she said.

"Dad could get strength from you too, Mom. You should be strong too," Riiya said.

Fuuko suddenly remembers Recca encouraging her on their battles when she's feeling weak. She brushes the thought away and smiles at him.

"Sure...but don't make me weak, Riiya..." she said softly. Riiya looks at her, confused.

"Mom is weak without you," she ended.

Riiya was flattered and hugs his mom tightly.

"I love you, mom."

* * *

Fuuko goes back to their room when Riiya fell asleep. She wanted a confrontation with Tokiya. She doesn't want to make her son worry anymore.

"Tokiya-kun..." Fuuko called.

Tokiya looks at her.

"I'm sorry," she said simply.

Tokiya smiles at her. Fuuko isn't looking at him, in so much fret that conquers her. Her hands are held on tightly together.

He reaches out and holds her hands, making it melt and obey his hands. Tokiya places it in his cheeks.

"I'm fine now. Don't worry," Tokiya said.

Now that they're all fine, Fuuko had a chance to face Tokiya. She then asks him, "Tokiya-kun, did you see a video tape without a label along with my camera?"

Tokiya looks at her as if confused.

"No," he said. "When Yanagi returned it, I just left it on the table where you found it,"

Fuuko's heart floated in delight like a thorn has just been pulled from it. She scratches the back of her head and laughs weirdly.

Tokiya raises an eyebrow at her.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Ah, yeah. Of course. I just wondered where it is now. I thought you had it so I got a little frustrated an all. But it's alright. It's not that important anyway," she said laughing.

"You're frustrated? Why? What is in that tape anyway?" Tokiya asked obviously persuading her to tell him.

"Huh? Oh, that. Well, that was the video that I recorded during Mom's 50th birthday. I just wondered where it could be now and I was all tired of looking for it so I got frustrated. I'm sorry. I was a bit overreacting," she replied.

Tokiya looks at her in suspicion and when she caught him staring strangely at her, he smiled and went back to reading.

Fuuko slowly walks out the room and sighs in relief.

"It doesn't matter where it could be now. As long as none of us has it," she thought.

* * *

"You're being unreasonable, Recca-kun!" Yanagi scolded.

"Huh? I'm sorry. I just missed the little guy so I..." Recca explained.

"Shut up!" she cuts in. "You didn't even think of what I'd feel. You...being near to Fuuko. All smiles and all..."

She breaks down in tears.

"Hime..." he said softly. "Fuuko and I have no business at all. I actually always get into fights with her. Fuuko is now married to Tokiya, so please...don't cry,"

Yanagi looks at him with teary eyes.

Recca kneels in front of her and holds her hands, looking up to her.

"No matter how many times a girl would come to my life. I will always find your voice when you call me," he said.

Yanagi is left without a word. She just flailed her arms to Recca and cries on his shoulder.

"I love you, Recca..."

* * *

Fuuko looks up at the night sky. Tokiya is asleep facing her direction. She looks at him and recalls Tokiya's words: "It's all for Riiya, right?"...words that are like indirect words that tell her, "I need your love too, Fuuko."

Fuuko sighs in guilt. She recalls the days when Tokiya always considered and say, "Let's do it. For Riiya,"...his proposal when she tried to reject him because she's with child. He said, "I don't want to marry just because of your sake or mine...It's also for your child...that will also become my child," and that's why she agreed of marrying him.

She looks at her wedding ring and sighs heavily.

"A ring is simple if seen by the mind's eye...but it means a lot when the heart is the one who looks at it," she remembers her mom tell her before their wedding.

"I want you to decide wisely, Fuuko...Don't do this if you're not sure that you really love Mikagami,"

Fuuko held her head.

"I once told myself 'it's too late for regrets'...but why do I feel so regretful now?" she thought. "Darn Recca...I knew I shouldn't have come back here,"

* * *

The same way, Recca stares at the endless night sky as Fuuko does. He looks down at his engagement ring, expressionless. He shakes his head hard, laughing. He looks up again and sighs heavily.

"Fuuko...why do you make me think this way..."


	7. The Flame Caster

Chapter 7: The Flame Caster

Recca brought Riiya to an amusement park and went on rides with him. Fuuko followed to pick Riiya up.

"When are you going to listen to me?" Fuuko scolded. "I already told you not to meet this nut head so frequently!" she pointed out to Recca.

"What did you just say?" Recca yelled.

"See? He's too dumb; he can't even understand what I just said!" Fuuko said glaring at Recca.

"You want a piece of me?" Recca dared, casting out a little amount of flame. Riiya's eyes widened seeing Recca's flame for the first time.

"He could do the same," he thought.

Fuuko also flickers wind around her. "Bring it on, match boy,"

Riiya sweatdropped.

Recca and Fuuko start to fight. Riiya sighs heavily; suddenly he notices a group of people approaching...and...They're policemen.

Riiya got alarmed and his mouth froze.

"M-m-m-mom..." Riiya called lowly and tried repeating.

"Shut up, brat! I'm busy!" Fuuko shouted.

"COPS!" he screamed and runs away.

Fuuko and Recca were surprised. They run as fast as they could try to escape from cops or their secret will be revealed. It's almost hopeless for them to get away until Recca thought of pulling Fuuko to a narrow corner. When the cops are about to pass them by, Recca faces Fuuko to hide their faces. They check up if the cops are already gone.

"Whew...that was close," Recca said, catching his breath.

"Yeah..." Fuuko agreed, also catching her breath.

Recca looks at her and before they knew it, their eyes met. They're stiffed for quite some time, only staring at each other's eyes. Fuuko then broke off and pushes Recca gently off her.

"It's getting late," she said.

"Right," Recca agreed.

They walk down the streets, silence all over them.

"Fuuko..." Recca called lowly. Fuuko suddenly gasps; Recca looks at her, confused.

"I totally forgot about Riiya!" Fuuko screamed.

Recca's eyes widened in surprise. He became serious all of the sudden; he pulls her.

"What are you doing, standing by? Let's go find him!" he persuaded.

Riiya, on the other hand, reached home after all the runs that he just did. He fell asleep right after changing clothes, tired. It turns out that Riiya knows the way from where they were before. He recalls when Tokiya brings him around the city on their first days in Tokyo and Riiya preferred walking than using the car.

* * *

It's already sunset. They still haven't found Riiya. Fuuko is crying in worry. Recca couldn't do anything but watch her in pity.

"Hey, stop crying now. Why don't we try calling your house?" he suggested. "Riiya has a good sense of direction. He might have known his way home and got there,"

Fuuko looks up at Recca and nods. They went to the nearest phone booth and called her home. Riiya answered it. Fuuko cried in delight.

"You darn kid! You made me worried!" she scolded with a shaky voice.

Riiya sweatdropped.

"Hey...what are you crying for now, mom? I'm alright. Dad just arrived and he has foods with him. Come home now, okay?" Riiya convinced.

"Who's crying? I'm angry, you little brat! I was worried sick!" she screamed, still teary.

Recca smiled weirdly at the people who're going to use the phone after Fuuko. He looks at her and smiles.

"But I'm glad you're fine..." she said. "I'll be right there so don't eat my share or you'll be dead. You hear me?"

Recca sweatdropped.

After the call, Recca walks Fuuko home. She keeps sighing in relief.

"I'm so glad he knows his way home," she said.

Recca smiles at her.

"He really thinks much older than his age," she said.

"You have a good and smart kid, Fuuko. You've done a great job on him," Recca complimented. Fuuko looks at him and smiles.

Suddenly, the thunder roared and heavy drizzle falls. Recca pulls her instantly to a sheltered shop.

"Why does this happen when I really need to get home?" Fuuko complained.

"This drizzle really warns about a heavy rain that'll come," Recca said.

Fuuko's face fell in hopelessness.

"I want to go home..." Fuuko said.

Recca looks at her sadly. He looks around and smiles.

"Hey, my house is just around this place," he claimed. Fuuko looks at him.

Recca looks at her smiling, trying to encourage her.

"I got a good idea. Why don't you stay at my house for a while? And when the rain faints, I'll take you home. Instead of staying in here...we'll get fever after a few minutes," he said.

Fuuko didn't respond.

"Hey, it's not like I'm not going to return you. It's just that I don't want you to catch a cold. Tokiya and Riiya will get worried," Recca said.

Fuuko looks up at him. He smiles at her.

"Ok then," she said.

Recca takes off his polo and puts it on Fuuko's head to cover her. Fuuko just started at him in astonishment. He prepares himself for the run they're going to make.

"Well, let's go?" he said handing out a hand to her. Fuuko places her hand to him. Recca hold it tight and they ran all the way to the next 3 streets, Recca's street.

Recca and Fuuko stay by a waiting shed to rest for a while.

"We're almost there," he said and looks at Fuuko. He began to mesmerize at Fuuko.

"I think we should go now, Recca. I'm cold and my head hurts. I..." she looks at Recca and notices him staring. She breaks their stare by walking past him.

"Let's go," she said.

"Uh...yeah," he agreed.

Fuuko and Recca rushes to the street where Recca lives. But then Recca suddenly slows down. Fuuko looks at him.

"We're almost there, Recca," she said.

Recca had his head down and he looks at her.

"I don't know why...but...I feel so happy when...you're near me," Recca said. "I can't keep myself from looking at you...I..."

Fuuko's eyes widens.

"I...I...I feel lonely when you leave...when you return to where he is...I feel angry..."

Recca approaches her slowly. Fuuko moves away her head to avoid his stare.

"When I'm this close...I want to hold you...When you turn your back on me...I want to pull you and face me...When you look at other people...I want to touch your cheek..."

Recca holds her cheek and moves her head to face him. Fuuko feels her emotions swirl in her heart. She wants to cry.

"...and tell you to look at me...look at me only..."

Fuuko's tears fall along with the heavy rain that falls freely on her. She closes her eyes tightly, shaking her head hardly to brush his hands away because her hands are stiffened along with her body.

"Don't do this, Recca. You're engaged! I'm married!" she screamed.

"I know that," Recca said and looks at his engagement ring. "but...when I'm alone...I can't keep my mind from thinking about you,"

Fuuko froze completely. Recca gently pulls her close to him, hugging her tightly.

"I don't know if this is all because I haven't seen you for a while...but in this situation...you know what I feel?" Recca continued.

"I don't wanna let go, Fuuko."

* * *

Fuuko caught a cold in the rain, along with all the mixed emotions that surround her, and fainted. Recca rushes her to his house. He immediately called Shadow to come. Shadow then rushed to his house. Fuuko may have been feeling very bad, but she definitely heard everything that Recca wanted to say.

After treating Fuuko for a temporary condition, Shadow helped Recca clean and dry Fuuko's clothes. Recca stayed beside her.

"I'm sorry, Fuuko...it was stupid to be so emotional in this situation," he whispered.

* * *

Fuuko avoided Recca since that time. She always ask Tokiya to pick Riiya up and she keep herself from passing by the park grounds or anywhere that's related to Recca...but fate truly is cruel.

One day, Riiya got fever that's why Recca came to their house instead. After taking care of him, he got tired and rested for a while on the living room but he fell into sleep.

Fuuko came home and found him sleeping on the living room. She was alarmed but seeing that he's really on a deep sleep, she approaches him and sits beside him. She recalls all the words that he told her. It was very touching.

"I guess it's all worth sacrificing for you," she whispered.

Fuuko smiled seeing Recca's sleeping form. She gets closer to kiss him on the forehead, and then he stirs up awake. She gasps silently in surprise of his sudden wakening.

Recca cuts her up but pulling her to kiss him. Fuuko was startled. She is actually kissing the man who gave her first kiss, her first born, her...first love.

She is about to close her eyes attempting to return the passion when she suddenly notices her son watching from a few steps away. She breaks off instantly and holds her mouth in guilt. Recca sits up to see what made Fuuko break off and sees Riiya startled from behind. Riiya runs to his room even with a weak health.

"Riiya!" Recca called, chasing the upset child.

Recca caught Riiya and tries to make him face him. Riiya is too depressed; he suddenly casts flames to Recca's body. Recca screamed in pain and rolls around to stop the fire. Recca catches his breath and looks at Riiya.

"Rii...ya..." he called lowly.

"Go away...go...away," Riiya said scared as well as sad. "I HATE YOU, HANABISHI-SAN!" he screamed running to his room and locks up.

Recca looks at his hand in confusion. He looks at Fuuko when he noticed her come. She was startled and her head are shaking.

"Fuuko," he called as he stands up.

Fuuko runs away. Recca chases her and holds her up when he catches her.

"Let me go!" she screamed.

"Fuuko, I just want a talk!" Recca reasoned, holding her up.

"Let me go!"

Recca's eyes widened when he recalled the same incident back on his 17th birthday celebration. He once had a dream of having a one night stand with someone.

He forces her to face him. Fuuko is crying.

"It was you, isn't it?" Recca said anguishly. "It was you...on that night..."

Fuuko shakes her head continuously.

"Let me go, Recca. Please don't make this hard for me. I...I don't want to feel hurt anymore," Fuuko begged.

Recca holds her face. Fuuko's tears continue to fall. She closes her eyes and brushes his hands away. She goes upstairs to Riiya's room.

Fuuko knocks at Riiya's room desperately.

"Riiya...please open the door," she begged with a shaky voice.

"Go away!" Riiya yelled from inside.

"Please let me explain, Riiya." Fuuko said. "Please...open the door,"

Fuuko couldn't stand her emotions anymore; she fell on her knees sobbing. The door suddenly opened. Fuuko looks up at her teary son. She pulls him gently to hold him in her arms.

"I don't hate you, mom." He said.

Fuuko raises his face to her.

"Please be honest with mom. I will listen," she said smiling weakly.

Riiya rests his head to her chest and cries out. Recca watches Fuuko and Riiya from behind.

* * *

In Fuuko's face expression and Riiya's ability to cast flames, Recca is positively sure that he is Riiya's real father. He is the only one who could give birth to the flames of the Hokage.

Recca is too spaced out and even though he's not the type who is very emotional, Recca went to his mom for comfort and advice.

Shadow, on the other hand, was too surprised about the news that Recca said.

"If that was what Fuuko had reacted then he definitely is a Hokage's son," Shadow said.

Recca is sitting in front of her as if the world is on his shoulders. Shadow smiles wearily.

"It's your choice, Recca. Fuuko decided to free you on her own will, but seeing that you're pretty upset with the fact that your family is with Tokiya, I can say you're falling for Fuuko..." Shadow stated. "Recca..."

Recca looks at her.

"Choose who your heart longs for," Shadow advised.

"But...she begged me to give her up..." Recca said anguishly.

"For what you had told me, I can still see the love Fuuko has for you," she said. "A woman can beg a man to give her up. Remember: she begs but not cry..."

"Her tears are all for you, Recca. How can she be hurt if she doesn't love you?"

Recca holds his head down. Shadow stands up.

"I want you to do a wise decision, Recca...don't think of them this time. Think for yourself," Shadow said and goes out of the room.


	8. His Choice, Her Tears

Chapter 8: His Choice, Her Tears

Shadow's words kept rewinding inside Recca's head. He didn't expect her to actually say that since she knew how much he cared for Yanagi and she supported him all through out when he fought with his life to save Yanagi's. He also doesn't know why and how but his mind and heart instantly thought of Fuuko when she said that to him.

Recca sits on his chair slouching. He's tense that's why he can't sit on his chair the way he wants to. He already drank 3 glasses of alcohol in a row. He's about to order another one when he suddenly sees Yanagi enters the restaurant. He got more nervous and didn't know what to do. He got annoyed at the thought he couldn't drink one last shot. He waved the waiter to get rid of the glass he just drank.

He clears his throat as Yanagi approaches him with a cheery, sweet, greeting smile. Recca felt more anguish seeing her like that. He felt miserable inside but he can't ignore her, can he? So he smiled back.

Yanagi kisses Recca on the cheek. Recca got tenser. He chuckles awkwardly to brush the thought away. It was expected for Yanagi to notice such weird gesture of his. Recca never felt awkward when it comes to her because he was always so frank about himself.

It was awfully quiet while they were having their dinner. Yanagi can definitely tell that something is wrong with Recca. At this rate, he should have been boasting off another of his victories over fighting with Fuuko, or Domon, or one of his co-workers, or his mom, or something like that.

"Something wrong, Recca?" Yanagi breaks off.

Recca looks up at Yanagi in surprise. He clears his throat and says, "What?"

"You wanna tell me something?" she asked.

Recca sits erectly and smiles awfully awkward.

"Tell you..." he subconsciously said out of so much thoughts running in his head.

"Please don't take this too long. Speeches really don't impress me," Yanagi said. "Tell me directly...the way you usually do,"

Recca felt bitterer with himself. He can't keep up with the bright smile anymore. His face dropped.

"What is it, Recca?" Yanagi asked.

Recca stares at Yanagi with guilt written all over his face. Yanagi became nervous seeing him like that.

Recca looks down.

"I..." he started.

Yanagi couldn't stop her heart from pounding so hard. She senses that something bad is going to happen.

* * *

Recca took Yanagi on the bus stop. Yanagi isn't crying but he can tell she was badly hurt. Yanagi had her head down low.

The bus came. When the bus's door opened, Yanagi walks in.

"I'm sorry...Hime..." Recca whispered.

Yanagi froze hearing his words, but she shook herself awake again and continuous to walk in the bus.

While on the bus, Yanagi recalls Recca's words before.

"I'll still serve you, just like I have decided and promised you...we may not be lovers anymore, but I'll always be there when you call out for my name...I will always be your ninja and you will always be my princess...Yanagi-hime..."

Yanagi's tears fell without her permission. She wasn't sobbing but one can definitely tell that she bears a grave pain.

* * *

Fuuko is walking towards the park just as Recca had requested her through the phone. The sun is setting and students are seen going home from school. She finds Recca sitting quietly on a swing. The people at the park are leaving one by one. She stares at him from afar and sighs heavily. She builds up her confidence and continues to walk.

Recca hears her approaching and looks up at her. He smiles wryly. Fuuko smiles back in a same manner. She sits on the swing beside where Recca sits. She looks at him; he's staring at her, smiling.

"So what's up?" she asked as if she hadn't noticed his stare at her. He chuckles, looking down.

"Nothing...I just want someone around. That's all. It just turned out that you're the only one who said 'yes' when I called them," Recca said.

Fuuko felt somewhat offended at the thought that she wasn't the only one he called.

"Hmm...I see," she said and plays on the swing.

Recca watches her.

Fuuko looks amazing, that's a fact that entered his mind. She's totally different from the Fuuko he knew back in pre-elementary days to high school years. She's so much of a woman now, although her attitude is so much the same as before. It feels different for him to be with her now. He gets more attracted to her, especially at the thought of having a complicated connection that he is the real father of her firstborn.

"Let's go somewhere," Recca said.

Fuuko looks at Recca in surprise.

"Is it okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure." She replied and got up from the swing.

"Let's go!" she said cheerfully.

Recca and Fuuko went to places; beautiful, fun and new places where dating couples goes. Recca admits that he really does enjoy being with Fuuko. It was definitely a pain for him to dump Yanagi that way, to think of it, he only likes Fuuko anyway but he can never forgive himself if he keeps playing dumb at the fact that Yanagi always cry for him.

Finally, Fuuko drags him to the amusement park as the last place they're going to drop by. When their stroll-places trip was done, Recca brought her out to eat.

"I broke up with Yanagi-hime today," Recca said.

Full-mouthed Fuuko looks at Recca in surprise. She forcibly swallowed everything in her mouth and gulped her drinks.

"Why?" she asked sounding angry, demanding for an instant excuse.

"Stop acting dumb. You know why...I have a son in you," Recca said.

"Are you...blaming me?" Fuuko said angrily.

"It's not like that." He said.

"Then what is it?" she argued.

Recca hides his face between his palms. "I just think it's wrong,"

Fuuko was silenced.

"Riiya was never regret for me," she suddenly broke off.

Recca looks at her.

"I never blamed you nor did I force you to take responsibility on him. I consider him to be one greatest gift you've given me," said Fuuko. "Everyone deserves the person they love the most,"

She looks at Recca.

"You love Yanagi just as she loves you, too. You both deserve each other. Don't give up on her just because you have a son in me. I'm fine, Recca. I have Riiya...and Tokiya, too."

Recca stares at her. Fuuko smiles at him; she looks away.

Recca walks Fuuko home. When they reached the corner of where Fuuko lives, Fuuko bade Recca goodbye. Recca suddenly pulls her to his arms.

"Thank you...thank you very much, Fuuko. You don't know how much you've made me happy today," he whispered.

Fuuko smiled wryly and tapped Recca and then once again bids him farewell.

* * *

When Fuuko reached home, she finds Riiya and Tokiya both asleep on the couch with the TV left on. She smiles and shakes her head lightly. She brings a couple of blankets and went to them. They wrapped them up with blankets and turned off the TV. She looks at them once again, kisses Riiya on the forehead saying: "Goodnight, sweetheart." And kisses Tokiya on the cheek saying: "Sorry I'm home late, honey. Goodnight," and crept away to the bedroom.

She sighs heavily and prepares herself to bed. When she was done, she stares at herself on the mirror thinking, "I made a wise choice today, right?"

A tear suddenly fell from her eye following it by another and another. She holds her eyes.

"Then why are you crying?" she murmured.

Fuuko gradually falls, sitting on the bathroom floor. She sobs.

* * *

NOTE: This chapter is quite short, isn't it? But this is where the fun begins. Please wait for the next chapter. I kinda enjoy making it long and interesting. Review please..('u')! 


	9. A Piece of Love

Chapter 9: A Piece of Love

----------------------

NOTE: Sorry guys for making you wait this long...some unlikely interruptions happened and I kinda lost track of time. Darn studies...hehe

----------------------

Fuuko walks quietly home from work. It's been a while since she had troubles in keeping a job. She had a good record-breaking range this time. She's been working as a scheduler on a call center during the day for the only least of 5 hours. After that, she fetches for a cup of coffee at a nearest café.

It's been 3 months now, since she had seen Recca's face or hears his voice. She admits that he gets to enter her mind most of the time, especially on the times when she passes by the park.

She sips her coffee quietly.

"Is it just me? or Fuuko is really drinking coffee?" a man suddenly said from behind. Fuuko turns to look at him. It's Domon.

"Domon!" she exclaimed in surprise. She immediately stood up and hugged the big man.

"Oh come on, Fuuko. People are watching," Domon said, blushing.

Fuuko pulls Domon to sit down in front of her.

"Hey, what did you do now to my Fuuko, huh?" Domon joked.

"Huh? What are you saying?" Fuuko said.

"I never get to be treated this way by Fuuko. Now, tell me. Where is Fuuko?"

Fuuko throws the teaspoon at him, but Domon managed to dodge it.

"Hey, I was just kidding," Domon snickers.

"Whatever,"

"So what are you doing here?" Domon asked. "I don't remember seeing you in a café like this,"

"Just wanted to warm up, that's all. I'm from work so what are you expecting of a tired woman, huh?" Fuuko said.

"Okay...I'll buy that if that's what you say so," Domon chuckled.

Silence.

Domon stares at Fuuko. Fuuko notices him staring. He smiles.

"What?" she asked.

"I just noticed that Fuuko's becoming more beautiful everyday," he said.

Fuuko flushed.

"Whatever," she said sipping her coffee.

"Hmm...what could I eat in here?" Domon murmured looking at the menu signs at the bar area of the café.

"You haven't changed a bit. You're always hungry," Fuuko said.

"What? Hey, it wasn't as always as you say it were," Domon said. "I'm more attentive to developing my muscles than my tummy,"

"That was brave of you to admit that you're nothing but muscles," she said.

Domon sweatdropped.

"You're mean," Domon whispered.

Fuuko laughs. Domon smiled.

"I missed the way you laugh," Domon said.

Fuuko was astounded. She sips on her coffee again.

"Is something bothering you?" Domon asked.

Fuuko didn't reply.

"Fuuko?" he called.

Fuuko shakes her head, smiling at him.

"Let's go somewhere else as soon as I finish this up, okay?" Fuuko said.

Domon smiled wearily at her.

Fuuko and Domon went to Shibuya and window-shopped. They also went to places they used to go back when they were in high school.

"You're really mean before than now. Back then, you always shook me away from you," Domon said.

"Hey, that was just only a joke," Fuuko laughs.

"You're lying," Domon said.

Fuuko and Domon stay on a bridge and look around. They are quietly enjoying the sunset view of Tokyo.

"Tell me, Domon..." Fuuko breaks off.

Domon looks at her.

"Am I really not worth being protected?" Fuuko asked.

"Nah...what are you saying?" he said. "I was always your soldier, right? You're worth protecting than any other woman,"

Fuuko looks at Domon, looking unsatisfied at what he said.

"Letting you go, Fuuko, doesn't always mean you're not worth loving," Domon said.

Fuuko looks at Domon, feeling teary in her eyes.

"People give you choices and you give your word as certain as anyone can tell. That's how you are," he said. "I let you go because you chose him...but that doesn't mean that I don't love you anymore. There will always be a part of me that's attached to you...I may not be able to love you the same way as before, but I can tell that my love for you is the reason why I canceled my meetings today," he said, laughing.

Fuuko stretches out her arms, gesturing him to hug her. Domon responded without hesitation. He hugs her.

"I will love you as long as you want me to, Fuuko...my best friend," he said.

Fuuko went home, so did Domon. She's feeling happy at what Domon had said. She knows that Domon can tell that she has some problems but he respected her, as always.

--------------------------------

Tokiya hasn't spoken to her for quite a week now. He's too busy with his work; well Fuuko also doesn't feel like talking anyway.

She first took a peek at Riiya's room. Riiya is busy reading his comic books that he keeps hiding from them. He's doing fine so she went straight to bed.

She closed her eyes and sighed heavily.

Some day for Fuuko...she never expected that Domon would actually be the one to explain her why she's feeling like that. Suddenly, she had the feeling of going out. She went to Tokiya and tells him that she'll be going out for a while. In no doubt, Tokiya waved a hand in response to her.

Fuuko went out with nothing but herself and a coat to warm herself up. The outside breeze would definitely the perfect thing for her preoccupied mind to stop thinking. As she walks around places to places, not so far from home, she gets to see something interesting on a store. It's a store for wedding preparations. She looks up at the beautiful wedding gown worn on the mannequin displayed on the glass window. She remembers the days when Tokiya accompanies her in choosing her wedding dress. She loved adoring decorative dresses in those days. It just turns out that she ended up wearing a gown with simple design made out of fine fabric. And that on their wedding day, that was the first time that Recca claimed her to be one, beautiful woman who looks like an angel.

Fuuko chuckles at the thought of him that suddenly came. When she looks back on the shop, that's when she noticed busy people roaming around inside; she peeks at them. A lady is being assisted on making up her decision of choosing her wedding dress. Fuuko adored the fine lady who has her back on her.

"Even though I can only see her back, I can tell she's really beautiful," Fuuko thought. "Some lucky guy..."

Fuuko then gasped when the lady turned to expose her face. It was Yanagi. She had her pretty, cheery smile on the person she's talking to. She flushes and holds her cheek, smiling shyly.

Fuuko didn't even realize that Yanagi noticed her watching. Yanagi waves a hand at her, smiling cheerfully. Then Recca showed up from the blocking concrete walls of the shop. He hastily went out to approach her.

Fuuko is too startled to move a muscle. Recca taps her arm, smiling at her.

"Hey, how're you doing?" Recca greeted casually.

Fuuko laughs awkwardly. "Haha...yeah. Just walking around, that's all. So you're..."

"Oh yeah, I'm accompanying Yanagi in choosing her wedding dress," Recca said.

"Haha...I see," she said. "That's nice,"

"Hey, why don't you come along with us?" he said. "We're stopping by at Domon's place after dinner. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see you. He just told me he feels like it's been ages since the time you last seen each other,"

"Oh, yeah? Well, I...just bumped on him some minutes ago," she said.

"Oh...I didn't know that. Anyway, you should still come along. Koganei and the others will be there as well. You should tell Tokiya to come too," he said.

"Well...I..."

"Great! You would be a great help to me in recommending Yanagi a good dress," Recca said pulling Fuuko to the shop.

Yanagi jumped out of the elevated shaft and greets Fuuko with a hug.

"I missed you so much, Fuuko! How are you? It feels like it's been years since the last time we've been together!" Yanagi said sweetly.

Fuuko smiles.

After that, Yanagi and Recca drag Fuuko to have dinner with them. It was getting a little late so Fuuko excused herself to call home. She also told Tokiya about a small get-together of the Hokage team, but Tokiya said he's really busy to come along. Disappointed Fuuko came with them to Domon's place.

On Domon's place, everyone drank and cheered at themselves, danced and did some silly things. Fuuko slowly crept out of the noisy, happy crowd and goes to the quiet garden outside the house. Recca noticed Fuuko creeping out the house.

"Who would realize that the bully, good-for-nothing and idiot guy would be able to afford such a good place," Fuuko thought, smiling while looking around. She sits on the bench that faces a nice night view of the lake. Then someone suddenly sat oppositely beside her.

Fuuko looks at him. It's Recca. Feeling too awkward, she looks away.

"I haven't said a proper 'thank you' yet," Recca said.

Fuuko laughs.

"No offense...but..." he claims hesitantly.

Fuuko looks at him.

"We knew that we had that mutual feeling but you gave me up...and I know that you don't really like Yanagi-hime that much," he said. "Your criticizing may be over but I know that you still can't take the reality about me choosing a weak lady as princess although I told everyone that my master should be someone who'll defeat me,"

"Shut up," she said.

Recca looks at her.

"I'm not thinking that way, you idiot," she said, smiling but not looking at him.

Recca holds her cheek and caresses it. Fuuko didn't look at him. He clings his arm around her neck moving her head closer to his. He places his mouth close to her ear. She could hear him breathing heavily. Fuuko resisted any movements; she wants to avoid doing a mistake.

"You're one special person in my life...and I will...always be there for you," he whispered. He releases her and holds her cheek again. His head leaning on her; his eyes staring at her, but Fuuko is like an emotionless marionette before him. She won't even budge. He just kissed her on the cheek as if it'll be the last kiss he'll be able to give Fuuko.

"Thank you, Fuuko...I hope...this decision is the best for the both of us...don't worry...I won't complicate your life again. Please take care of Riiya," Recca said and stands up, leaving her.

Fuuko keeps her senses up if he's still around. When she hears no footsteps anymore, she turns to check up on him with a sad face. Recca is walking towards the house. Because of unsatisfactory, he looks back at Fuuko. Fuuko turns her back on him again. He sighs as he interprets that Fuuko became insensitive when it comes to him. Recca reaches the house and goes inside.

Fuuko sobs to herself now that she's alone. After some woes and weeping, she suddenly felt some drizzle falling on her head. She looks up and sees the hiding moon on dark clouds. It'll be a heavy rain. The gentle bits of rain are getting heavy and Fuuko decides to go home. She can't show up to everyone that she's crying anyway.

She's running away freely on the empty streets when suddenly she bumped on a lady. Fuuko hides her face saying, "I'm sorry, I was in a kind of a hurry so I..."

"Fuuko-san?"

Fuuko looks up. It's Ganko. All grown up as a beautiful, long-haired teenager.

"What's wrong, Fuuko-san?" Ganko asked.

"I have to go home and it turns out that I have no umbrella..." she excused, shaking and not looking at her.

"You can have mine if you want," Ganko said out of worry in Fuuko.

Fuuko looks at Ganko. Her tears flow freely. Ganko didn't notice because it's raining.

"No thank you. I'm wet now, anyway. Please tell the others that I left and that I'm sorry but I have some things to do, okay?" Fuuko said.

"Okay...but are you sure you won't need my umbrella anymore? I can borrow some clothes from Domon-san anyway," Ganko said.

"No, thank you...don't forget to tell my message," Fuuko said and runs away.

"Okay, take care!" Ganko yelled. When Fuuko's image disappeared, Ganko turns and sees Recca with an umbrella looking serious. He smiles as he looks at Ganko and says, "Get inside now or you'll catch cold,"

"Hai!" Ganko said hurrying to the house.

"You're late!" everyone yelled from inside.

"Gomene, minna!" Ganko said.

Recca looks back to the empty streets where Fuuko stood cold and wet from the rain, talking to Ganko. He noticed the tears falling from her eyes. He can see the sad look across her smile.

------------------------------

The touch of Recca's hand and his words keep rewinding in Fuuko's head. He was speaking all the truths about the two of them but she kept lying and lying to him and herself.

Now...is the last day that she and Recca will consider their mutual feeling to each other. His reason is still being in love with Yanagi, but hers is his happiness.

Fuuko takes a break on the park. As her thoughts flew on the topic about letting Recca go, she shakes her head and cries more.

"I admit now...I love Recca...I love him...I love him..." she said, repetitively and her hands on her face. "Please make this feeling go away. I admitted it anyway so...there's no more reason that I should suffer in this feeling. Please. I admit I want to be with him, but how can I be with him if he still loves her so much? I can't...because he won't be happy. So please...please make this feeling go away. I don't want to be hurt anymore. It's worse than hell,"

When the rain was over and Fuuko felt a little calm, she walks some more drying up coldly from the rain. It turned out that Recca went looking for her. He instantly came to her. Fuuko sees him approaching so she held her head down.

"Why aren't you home yet? Why are you in this place? Look at you, you're freezing," Recca said continuously.

"I'm fine. I just got a little lost because I can't see through the heavy rain," Fuuko said not looking at him.

Recca drags her home in annoyance.

Fuuko didn't complain or give any reaction about how he treats her. Recca lends her his mother's clothes and made a hot drink for her.

"If you catch a cold, I'll be dead under Tokiya's feet," Recca joked trying to brush away the gloomy space between them.

Fuuko didn't reply. She just sipped on the hot tea and warmed herself up on the thick blanket around her. Recca stares at her. He brushes some wet strands of her hair and clips them on her ear. Fuuko looks at him. She couldn't hold back any longer and her eye finally drops a tear. Recca gasps. She remembers Domon's words to her: "Letting you go, Fuuko, doesn't always mean you're not worth loving. People give you choices and you give your word as certain as anyone can tell. That's how you are,"

Fuuko sighs heavily as she looks away. After a while, she returns her stare to Recca, her face revealing all the emotions she hadn't shown before. Recca looks at her seriously.

"I know that when you said those things to me, you mean that this day is the day when our silly game ends," Fuuko said, not looking at him. She clears her throat and takes all the courage she has to look straightly at Recca's eyes.

"So I want you to hear the words that I wanted to tell you for years..." she said, shaking. She stares at Recca and he is listening very attentively. Her mind went blank when she's about to release a breath of words. Her face fell, along with the tears that she resisted. Recca watches her cry; he feels miserable. He stands up to avoid looking in her sad eyes.

"I like you, Fuuko. I really, really like you," Recca said. Fuuko gasps and went frozen in her position. "I've never felt liking another woman this way other than Yanagi-hime," he added.

She couldn't keep the pain anymore and cried out all the despair she feels inside, with her hands hiding out her face. Recca clenches his fists; thinking, "I'm making her cry again..."

Fuuko stands up reaching for Recca. She turns him to look at her and grips his shirt. She's still catching her breath, her eyes hesitating to look at his eyes.

"I want to tell you now or there will be no more next time...I want you to know that I'm letting you go because I know that your happiness is with Yanagi. You're right, I am jealous...upset...because you chose her to be your princess when I've always fought you on a duel. I thought I'm doing that because I want you kneeling before me but I was wrong, it was because I want you to look at me like I will be the last girl you'll ever look at. I want you to care for me the way you care for her..." Fuuko's voice fades as she felt more and more sad, but because of the great determination to confess her feelings to her, she hugs him and puts her mouth close to his ear.

"...I love you, Recca..." she whispered.

Recca's eyes widened hearing her last words. Fuuko releases her hold on him and holds his cheek, still crying.

"But don't worry...I won't take you away from her again and I will always love Riiya because you gave him to me. And yes...I hope this will really be the best for the two of us. If not for me, I still hope it would be for you. As long as you're happy, I'm happy too...but this time, I would only wish for one last thing before this thing ends..." she said.

Recca stares at her, in both surprise and wonder.

"Please give me one last kiss that would make me dream that I'm the one you love," she said desperately.

Without another word or hesitation, Recca pressed his lips to hers.

Fuuko's tears fell in the feeling of sadness and delight. Maybe inexcusable reflexes on what happened next but it is utterly caused by emotional outburst for the both of them because they ended up making love once again.

Fuuko cries while hugging Recca. Recca looks at her, wiping away the tears that fall endlessly on her face. Fuuko holds him tighter.

-------------------------------

"Mom? Mom! Why didn't you come home?" Riiya shouted on the phone. Tokiya snatches the phone from Riiya.

"Fuuko? Where are you?" Tokiya asked.

Fuuko holds her mouth to keep them from hearing her shaking voice. When she recovered a little, she gulped her saliva.

"I'm fine. The rain was heavy last night when I was about to go home and I have no umbrella so I checked in a nearby motel and when it was over, I was too tired to go home so I just stayed out. I'm sorry I called late. I just woke up," Fuuko said. "I was thinking of telling you later when I get home but you won't be there anymore at that time,"

Recca looks at Fuuko who's on the booth.

"Okay...take care...bye..." she said hanging the phone up.

Fuuko approaches Recca with a weary face. She looks up at him. Recca is looking weary too. She hands out a hand in front of him.

"This time...is a new beginning of us...being friends, right?" Fuuko said.

Recca stares at her, disappointed. He stares at her hand.

"I can't ignore what happened last night," Recca finally said.

"We had a deal, right?" Fuuko reminded, her voice starting to shake. "We promised not to complicate things again, right?"

Recca rubs the back of his head.

"You love me, right? How can I ignore that?" he said.

"Maybe so...but you love Yanagi and she loves you too. You only like me...that was all. It's just like a one night stand. A small favor from you," Fuuko said acting coldly.

Recca stares at her. Fuuko got annoyed.

"What?" she exclaimed.

"No one is punishing you. You're the one who's punishing yourself," Recca said.

"You can't do this, Recca. Everything is set!"

"Everything is wrong!"

"Nothing is wrong. You just want to complicate things again,"

Recca got annoyed and turns his back on her. Fuuko holds his arm and faced him to her.

"Yanagi loves you and you love her, too. You just like me, you said that..."

"I only said that but I was falling for you!" Recca yelled cutting her.

Fuuko was startled.

"Just because I like you, that's enough for me to kiss you and make love to you out of favor? Is that how low you see me?" Recca said.

Fuuko froze.

Recca shakes his head and walks away.


	10. Forbidden Love

Chapter 10: Forbidden Love

------------------

Fuuko takes a round to shops to look for a perfect gift for Riiya. She stares at a toy shop and sighs hard.

"So I'll get to see him again," she thought.

It's Riiya's 6th birthday. At least a week after she last saw Recca. She's doing her best to avoid seeing him, but it seems fate itself finds a reason for them to see each other again.

Fuuko is required to let Recca know that it's his birthday because he is, anyway, Riiya's father. She recalls the moment that she chased on him. Fuuko is blushing hard in front of him, she feels like she's a desperate lover trying to keep the forbidden affair working. Even though she's uncomfortable to that thought, she still thinks that Recca has to know.

"You should come...Riiya will be glad if you're there," she ended.

Fuuko sighs as she recalls her words.

"That was stupid. If I really didn't want to ever see him again, why the heck did I invite him to this party?" she thought.

Fuuko sighs. She sighs once again as she finds herself clueless of what to give Riiya.

"I don't have much time. I have to get home now or I'll have less time preparing for later," she murmured.

------------------

"Mom, I don't remember inviting you here," Fuuko said coldly.

"And that's why I'm so disappointed with you," her Mom yelled and turns her back on her.

Fuuko sighs.

"So who invited you?" Fuuko asked.

"My good SON-IN-LAW, of course. I can't believe that my own daughter is cruel enough not to let me in my grandson's birthday..."

Fuuko's mother nags her more and more but her mind is all about Recca when she invited him to that party.

Recca stares at her as if she's guilty of being a suspect. Their pace is completely awkward. She told him why she was there. He didn't say any word. He just stares.

"I just think you should be there 'cause he's your son anyway," she ended turning her back on him and leaves.

Fuuko sighs. Her mother is still nagging her. Fuuko stands from her seat and approaches her mother.

"What are you doing? You're not good at this, stay away." Her mother scolded.

Fuuko remained silent.

Tokiya is watching from behind and Recca is looking at them from the living room.

------------------

The party soon began when Fuuko decided to make Riiya blow out the candles. It is a child's party but the celebration seemed more like a gathering. Fuuko wanted it to be fun for her son but Riiya wanted it to be as simple as their reunion at Recca's house.

Fuuko is sitting in front of the TV, along with the others. Everybody is pretty noisy and all, except for Fuuko. It seems like she was just staring at the television. Recca sits at the long couch and beside him is Riiya and on his other side is Yanagi. Domon and the others prefer sitting on the floor while Shadow and Tokiya are at the dining hall.

Recca glances at Fuuko. Fuuko look bored. After some time, she stands up and leaves. Recca followed her with his stare.

Fuuko sits beside Tokiya and Shadow.

"I see...your job is really impressive, Mikagami," Shadow praised.

"Well, it isn't something that Recca can play around," Tokiya said.

Fuuko felt uninterested of what they're talking about and excused herself to the kitchen. She went there and got some water then went outside.

"Why the heck am I doing here again?" she murmured, holding the glass of water in her hand like some kind of props. She stares at it and decides to sit down, then she laid flat on the ground.

She stayed there, contemplating. Before she knew it, it's already late.

"Well, sorry for keeping you," Domon apologized.

"That's okay. I should be the one to thank you because you came," Tokiya said.

Fuuko followed their voices and got to the front yard. She sees Tokiya at the door talking to Domon with Kaoru and Ganko at his shoulders. Domon notices her.

"Oh Fuuko, where have you been?" Domon asked.

"Well...I was just..." she spoke lowly, trying to explain.

"Anyway...thanks for the night. We have to leave now or Ganko might get in trouble getting in her dormitory," Domon said. "We'll just see again later,"

"Ah, yeah," she replied, as if absent-minded.

Tokiya raises an eyebrow at her.

Fuuko raises a hand at Domon, signaling him her bid. And Domon finally left.

"Are you okay, Fuuko?" Tokiya asked.

"Wha-" she turned to him, with eyes looking so out-of-self. "Yeah," she said and gets inside.

Fuuko notices that Recca and Yanagi are still there, along with Riiya on his side and they're asleep.

"Riiya has to have a curfew for this week or he'll have trouble sleeping," Tokiya said.

"Yeah..." Fuuko agreed.

Tokiya approaches them. Fuuko is watching from behind.

Riiya rests his head on Recca's lap and Recca holds Riiya's arm gently and protective while Yanagi had her head on Recca's shoulder. Fuuko felt something in herself that's twisting her eyes and make it get teary.

Tokiya gently takes a hold on Riiya's body, so as to not wake him up. Recca strengthens his hold on him, alarmed. Recca opened his eyes and accidentally shrugged his shoulder, waking Yanagi up. It was like he's ready to fight to protect Riiya.

"What's wrong, Recca?" Yanagi asked.

Tokiya just stared at him, so was Recca to him. Recca finally lets him go. Tokiya takes Riiya in his arms and away. Fuuko is still watching from behind Tokiya. When Tokiya left, Fuuko followed.

------------------

"Thank you for inviting us, Fuuko...Tokiya..." Yanagi said.

"No prob-" Fuuko said plainly, still with droopy eyes.

"Don't mention it. We should be the one thanking you for coming," Tokiya said.

Recca didn't say anything. He just stares at Fuuko. Fuuko is leaning on the threshold and had her eyes on Yanagi. Tokiya noticed.

"We have to go now," Recca broke off, turning his back and walking away.

"What's his problem?" Fuuko whined. Tokiya looks at her. Fuuko grins and murmurs, "Doesn't matter. At least I get to annoy him without even budging,"

Tokiya shakes his head, smiling.

------------------

It's late but Fuuko is still at the kitchen, contemplating and Tokiya, as well, is still awake and doing his paperwork.

Fuuko drinks her coffee. She remembers Domon tell her how unusual she is when he found her drinking coffee. She snickers remembering good memories with her friends.

"Can't sleep?"

Fuuko raises her chin and sees Tokiya standing by the threshold of the kitchen. She smiles.

"I just feel like staying up late," Fuuko said.

"Why is that? Don't you have a job tomorrow?" Tokiya asked.

"No..."

Tokiya stares at her.

"...I resigned. I had another stupid superior," she said.

Tokiya chuckles and sits with her at the table.

"Besides, I really like it when I sleep all day," Fuuko said.

"Why is that?" Tokiya asked.

"Well...one is I don't have to eat because I'm asleep and two is that I don't waste energy answering phone calls or answering the door and well...I don't have to go out or get paranoid because I'm locked up inside," Fuuko said.

Tokiya laughs. Fuuko watches him with a smile. She looks down. Tokiya looks at her. Fuuko is staring at her coffee.

"Tokiya," she called lowly, clearing up her throat and looks up at him wearily.

"I'm sorry," Fuuko ended and looks back down.

"What are you saying 'sorry' for?" Tokiya asked.

Fuuko hesitantly looks at him.

"For everything," she said, looking down. "I don't even think I deserve having you for a husband,"

Tokiya notices anxiousness in Fuuko; he reaches out and holds her cheek, making her face him. Fuuko looks at him with a sad face.

"What are you saying, huh?" he asked. He caresses her cheek. "What I do for you is just repay for everything that you've done for me and that's all,"

Fuuko drops a tear. She holds his hand against her eyes and starts sobbing.

"Hey...what's wrong? Huh?" Tokiya charmed.

"Why do you have to be so nice?" she whispered.

Tokiya holds her face with both hands.

"Tell me...What's wrong..." Tokiya begged.

Fuuko shakes her head.

"Fuuko..."

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..." she said and stands up from her seat and leaves.

Fuuko walks out from the door. She is still crying and catches up her breath when suddenly, a hand covers her mouth and an arm drags her outside the yard.

"Fuuko?" Tokiya called as he followed Fuuko outside...but no one's there.

Fuuko tried to struggle but the arm wrapped on her waist is just way too strong for her. When they reached outside, Fuuko is still struggling; the man pushes her against a wall.

Fuuko is breathing hard with her head lowered, catching up her breath in so much fright. She have her eyes closed tight and her hands holding tightly together and clutched against her chest.

She then felt strong embrace around her and her head leaning on the man's shoulder. She knew that feeling; it is very familiar.

"Fuuko...why are you doing these things to me, huh?" he whispered.

Fuuko's eyes widened when she realized who is embracing her. It is, without a doubt, Recca.

"Re...cca?" she called with a shaky voice.

He loosens his grip and holds her face with both hands. Fuuko still had her face tainted with tears and still feels like crying. Recca wipes her cheeks.

"Why are you crying?" he asked.

She didn't say a word and, instead, pushes Recca aside and walks away. He grasps her hand and turns her to him.

Recca and Fuuko are staring at each other.

"If you don't let me go, she'll get hurt, too. Is that what you want? The one you protect is the one you'll hurt?" Fuuko said.

"I broke up with Hime once and that was the end of it all," Recca stated.

Fuuko's eyes widened. She brushes her hand away from him.

"You think you can fool me?" she said. "How can you be so close to her when you've already broken up?"

"You haven't heard of friendship? I'll tell you all about it," Recca said.

"You're lying! You once accompanied her to choose her wedding dress!" Fuuko said.

"Why? Does accompanying her to choose her dress mean that I'll be the one to marry her?" Recca said. "Hime had an acquaintance and was arranged to get married to someone else,"

"You liar!" Fuuko yelled.

"I told Hime what's been happening between the two of us and she understood,"

Fuuko's eyes widened. "What?"

"I also told her...that I'm in love with you, Fuuko..."

In so much surprise, she turned her back on him and walks away.

"Fuuko,"

Fuuko didn't respond.

"Fuuko!" Recca called and chases on her. He hugs her from behind.

Fuuko is too weak because of the mixed emotions she's feeling but she shoves him away from her. Recca looks at her.

"We can't keep this up, Recca...I'm married..." she cried.

Recca and Fuuko stare at each other with a space between them. Fuuko one again turns her back on him.

"If you can't fight for me, then I'll do it alone..." Recca said.

Fuuko heard but continues walking.

"...Whatever had happened between you and Tokiya is not my fault. I didn't decide on making you stay away from me," he ended.

------------------

Fuuko hastens to the mirror house of an amusement park. It was sunset.

"Fuuko, you've got to stop Recca from fighting with Tokiya. They both might get hurt," Yanagi said to her, making her run fast to the amusement park. Where the fight all began between Mikagami and Hanabishi.

Fuuko's already late. The fight had started. No sound was heard from the walls. The people are struggling to get in the mirror house because it was unreasonably locked from the inside.

She has to get in.

She went behind the house and used her wind to get in. She knew it'd be risky because she might get killed once she lands from the roof, but she did it...to save those two men fighting with their lives. Fuuko, as she had expected, lands in between them.

Recca's fire blade was just an inch from her neck and so was Mikagami's ice blade. If it was too dark for them to see, they might've killed Fuuko in no time.

They lowered their elemental weapons.

"What the heck are you two doing?" Fuuko scolded.

No answer.

"Now I understand why you said 'sorry' last night," Tokiya said.

Fuuko turned to him, surprised. Tokiya had his head low. Fuuko drops a tear.

"Tokiya..." she called lowly, but Tokiya walks away.

"You won, Hanabishi. They're all yours," Tokiya said coldly.

Fuuko watches Tokiya's heart freeze right before her eyes. She falls out tears witnessing that.

Recca watches Fuuko cry from behind.

------------------


	11. Sacrificial Soul

Chapter 11: Sacrificial Soul

------------------

Tokiya comes down from upstairs with his luggage. Fuuko is standing across him. She just stared at him but her eyes look like they're telling him to stay. Fuuko twiddles her fingers, showing him how nervous she is. Tokiya looks away and passes through her.

Tokiya opens the door and finds Riiya standing on the doorstep; he just came home from school.

Riiya looks down as he noticed a packed luggage in Tokiya's hand. Tokiya passes by.

"Dad?" he called, confused.

Tokiya paused as he heard his call.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

Silence. Tokiya continued what he's supposed to do. More confused, Riiya looks at his mother. Fuuko holds her mouth.

"Dad, wait. Where are you going?" Riiya called as he senses that something is going wrong. He chases on him

Tokiya just kept ignoring him. Then...he actually left...and Riiya kept chasing him until he got out of sight.

------------------

Riiya stares at the television. Fuuko slowly crept to his side. Riiya didn't even budge. He just kept staring at nowhere. Fuuko looks down as she felt like crying again.

"So how's school?" Fuuko asked as if she's talking to an elderly.

"Where is Dad going to?" Riiya asked back.

"I don't know," she answered.

"When will he come home?"

"I don't know,"

Silence.

Riiya approaches his mother and hugs her.

------------------

Recca is watching Fuuko as she plays her hands around the coffee cup.

"You're getting too fond of coffee, Fuuko," he said.

"I drink this when I feel nervous," she said.

Recca snickers. Fuuko looks up at him.

"Silly. Coffee will make you feel more nervous," he said.

"Good..."

Recca looks at her, still wearing a smile.

"...'cause I was just waiting for a stroke..."

Recca's smile turned to frown.

"...then I won't feel any pain anymore because I'm unconscious and-"

"Shut up," he ordered.

Fuuko falls a tear.

"What the hell are you crying for now?" Recca whined.

"This is wrong, Recca..." she said.

"What?"

"...we're defying the rules too much. We're hurting so many people-"

"If you don't have anything nice to say, just shut up!" Recca said.

"-we shouldn't continue this. We might-"

Recca slams a hand on the table, making the glasses on top fall.

"I said 'shut up'!" Recca yelled.

Fuuko trembled but kept her calm. Another tear falls from her eye. She bit her lip.

Silence. Recca stares at her.

"Two reasons..." he said. Fuuko listens to him but kept her head low.

"What people say about us...doesn't really matter. They don't know what's really going on between us. No one knows, understand? So if you give up...then it's like you're telling them that they're right," he said. "I won't let that happen. I want everyone to know what's true,"

Fuuko looks at him.

"That's one. And two...well...I just don't want to have any regrets later," he said.

She just stares at him. He's looking straightly in her eyes.

"That's why I keep on loving you,"

Fuuko was touched by Recca's words.

"And I want Riiya to know everything," he added.

Fuuko astonishes. She shakes her head.

"No. Don't do that!" she said in a raising voice.

Recca just stared at Fuuko.

She slams her fists on the table.

"He doesn't need to know! His Dad is Tokiya!" she shrieked out of anxiety.

"What did you just say?" Recca asked out of astonishment.

Fuuko's tears flow freely down on her face like an endless rain.

"You can't just come and break into our lives. Can't you understand that I'm married, Recca? The bloodline may be yours, but who Riiya is now is all because of Tokiya. He sacrificed a lot of things to raise him. Even though he knew Riiya is not his," she said faintly.

"I don't care," Recca said.

"What?"

"Why do you always blame me for everything that happened to you and Tokiya?"

"I'm not blaming you-"

"Look here. I'm not interfering with anyone's life," said Recca. "I'm just taking back what's supposed to be mine,"

------------------

After being left alone on the coffee shop, Fuuko went her own way home.

Recca's words kept rewinding on Fuuko's head. As she thinks about that, her eyes kept staring at nowhere.

"How can he say that? He was not there on those years," she thought. Flashback memories came to her about Tokiya.

"You don't have to take these burdens alone, Fuuko...You have me...and if you'll accept me...I'll marry you..." Tokiya once told her.

Fuuko hides her face with her hand to hide the heavy tears falling from her eyes.

"Oh, Tokiya...you gave up your youth just because you want me to be happy..."

She wipes her face.

"How can you ignore his sacrifices, Recca? Don't you know what it feels like to watch someone sacrifice himself for your own good?"

The bus stopped. Fuuko gets out. She finds Koganei right on the bus stop.

"Hey, Man-Lady!" he greeted.

Fuuko ignored what he said and just replied with a wave of her hand. Koganei raises a brow at her. The bus leaves.

"Hey, Fuuko. What's the matter?" he asked, keeping up pace with her.

"Wha-" Fuuko looks at him. "Koganei...why are you still here?"

"What?"

"Weren't you..." Fuuko sighs. "Oh, nothing,"

She continues her walk. Slowly, this time. Koganei follows her.

"So...something bugging you?" Koganei asked.

"Nothing," she replied.

Silence. Koganei just stares at her. He looks away and puts his hands at the back of his head.

"You know what I've been thinking..." he says.

"What?"

"I think I could agree at what the others say that you look more and more beautiful these days, Fuuko,"

"What was that?" she looks at Koganei out of surprise. "To whom are you referring to? Huh?"

"Well...one is Domon...and Kagerou-san...then there's Ganko...and Yanagi-neesan...of course, Tokiya...and then, the most annoying person who keeps saying that over and over..."

Fuuko stares at him, thrilled of knowing the last person.

"...Recca," he said, looking at her.

"Oh..." she said, as if disappointed.

"When he first said that, I already felt that something's going on with him," he said. "Then...it actually happened,"

"What do you mean by that?" she said.

Koganei puts his hands down to his pockets.

"Everything...temptations, disappointments, hesitations...that sorts of things, right?" he said.

"Hmp, you talk like you know everything," she said.

"You can be right about that. I really don't like saying these kinds of stuff. It's pretty boring," he said. "I just wanna let you know something,"

"What, wise boy?" she said.

"I kinda miss the Fuuko who has a tough personality," he said.

Fuuko ceased hearing him say that. Koganei turns to look at her.

Silence.

Fuuko rolls her eyes, concealing her emotions, and continues her walk. He, feeling annoyed, follows her with a gaze.

"You should stop doing that, Fuuko," he said.

"Okay. What's wrong with walking?"

"Nothing. It's just that you keep avoiding having this conversation," he said.

Fuuko was surprised.

"And what made you say that?" she said, as if there's nothing wrong.

"You keep pretending you're still your old self when, in fact, your old self is fading away in your personality,"

"Okay...now you're really pretending to be the wise guy here,"

"We already knew what's been going on between you and Recca so stop pretending!" he yelled.

Fuuko's eyes widened.

"You're the one who makes things worse, don't you know that?" he said.

"What did you just say?"

"Fuuko...if you really wanted to stay with Tokiya for the rest of your life, why'd you let Recca get in your lives?" he said.

"Now it's me who's wrong?" she said in a high tone of voice. "You're all annoying!"

Koganei gets annoyed. He chases her and went in front of her.

"Can you hear yourself now? Look at you; you're blaming things to others. You're not like this. You used to take responsibility to what mistake you have caused. You're useless, irresponsible, selfish, weak-"

"That's it. Now I'm mad!"

"Good. You agree with me,"

"WHAT? AGREE WITH WHAT, YOU DELINQUENT!"

Koganei just watched her. Fuuko is glaring at him.

"The moment you left is the moment that he loved you, didn't you know that? And that's what made things change,"

Fuuko astonishes.

"You didn't know that? That's pity. Then you didn't realize that you gave him many opportunities on you? Which also proves that you...are actually deceiving Tokiya?"

Fuuko gasps hearing his words. Her eyes felt like crying again. But this time, she falls apart. She fell on her knees.

"Do you know what made Tokiya get so mad? Koganei said.

Fuuko froze.

"If you're thinking that discovering Riiya's real father is the cause, well you're wrong. Tokiya knew that Riiya is your son to Recca He told Domon, only Domon, about that. He knew no one would know if he tells him, but I was there, listening. He said he had watched the video on Recca's 17th birthday and proved that he was Riiya's father...but he ignored that fact and continued loving you because he trusts you. He believes that you would always be faithful to him,"

Fuuko starts to cry profoundly.

"The reason he got angry was because-"

"That's it. You've really gone too far, Koganei!" Recca yelled.

Fuuko and Koganei turn to him. Fuuko has a surprised and depressed look on her face. Koganei stared at him.

"The reason he got angry was because he saw you on the night of Riiya's birthday. Recca hugged you and you were both all passionate and loving to each other," Koganei said, still staring at Recca.

Koganei turned to Fuuko.

"And that's why he challenged Recca to a duel," Koganei stated. Fuuko, realizing that, pictured in her mind all the things that he was talking about.

"Shut up now!" Recca yelled, casting out flames in his arm. Koganei prepares himself for defense.

"Stop it!" Fuuko screamed desperately.

Recca and Koganei watch her fall apart in her own emotions.

Silence

"I'm sorry...Fuuko...I just wanted to-"

"What's your apology for, Koganei? You've already hurt her!" Recca yelled.

Koganei looks at him and looks down.

Silence.

"I'm sorry, Fuuko." Koganei said and left.

Recca followed him with glare. Then gazes at Fuuko. Fuuko was still crying; she has her hands on her face then a hand come in front of her.

"Let's get you home now," Recca said looking serious.

------------------

Because Fuuko was too shocked to walk straightly, Recca carried her on his back. Recca is quiet.

"Recca..." Fuuko called.

Recca didn't respond.

"Recca..." she called again.

No answer.

"Re...cca..." she called shakily.

"If you cry, even a single tear, you will never see me ever again," he said.

Fuuko gasps and accidentally fell a tear down to his cheek. Recca froze. He was surprised. Out of anxiety, she began trembling unconsciously and caused her to slowly slide down from his back. After a while, he raises her back comfortably on his back and he continued his walk.

Fuuko slowly slides her hands to his cheek and wipes it.

Silence. They finally reached her house.

Recca drops her to the ground. She stares at him from behind.

"MOM! UNCLE RECCA!" Riiya called from behind.

They turn to face him. Riiya, with his cheerful face, runs towards them. As he finally got close, he immediately pulls his Mom to kiss her on the cheek and then hugs Recca on his waist.

"Hey, little brat," Recca said calmly with a smile.

"I missed you, Uncle Recca," he said.

"What? But it was only 3 days ago when we last saw each other," Recca said.

"Come on, let's play!" Riiya said pulling Recca towards the house.

"Hey, wait. You see...Uncle has to do something," Recca excused.

"No. Work later, play now!" he said cheerfully.

"But I-" Recca tried to excuse but he was pulled away to the house.

------------------

Fuuko stands by the threshold of the Riiya's room, looking in the bed where Recca and Riiya are sleeping. Recca has his arm underneath Riiya's head and his other hand is holding a book. Riiya is also holding the book. He has his head leaning on Recca's chest.

A picture of a father and son that would make any wife sigh and smile. But for Fuuko, it's a mixture of hurt and happiness. She felt sad seeing the same scene wherein Tokiya was the one who's taking care of Riiya.

Recca budges to the edge of the bed, shrugging him to wake. He woke up and catches the door closing.

Fuuko walks away quietly as she decided to have a cup of coffee.

The door behind suddenly opened.

Fuuko paused.

Recca walks pass her.

"Recca," she called, grasping his arm.

Recca turns.

Fuuko freezes, staring at him. Recca stares.

"I have to go," he said.

"Okay," she said.

He approaches and makes their distance shorter. Fuuko is still at her pace. Her eyes are looking at the embossed bone on his neckline.

"Is there something you wanted to tell me?" he asked.

"It's nothing. It'll just annoy you again," she said.

"Tell me," he said, as if demanding.

Fuuko sighs.

"Back then...When Koganei confronted me about what's happening between us and Tokiya, I realized...that he was right...and I just want to say sorry to you because I've always put the blame on you when, in fact, I'm the one who caused all these things and became self-pitiful...and weak...you...you always stand up for me because you knew...that this is what I really wanted...to have you...with Riiya...for you to love me...I don't want to cry anymore but...I keep crying...because I know I'm guilty...I'm so sorry...for hurting you the same way that I hurt Tokiya...I...I caused you all pain...I made everyone cry...you all sacrificed...you, Tokiya, Yanagi, Domon...I'm so sorry..."

Fuuko sobs.

"I'm sorry for making you love me...If only I didn't do that, you wouldn't have been experiencing any of this...you might've not suffered...you might've not needed to fight alone...to remain in love with-"

A teardrop fell on her cheek. Fuuko gasps, shutting up all the words she'll say.

"Stop..." he whispered.

"Re...cca?" she called shakily, raising her chin slowly.

Recca ceases her to look at his face by holding her cheek.

"Everything that I do, is not your fault. Okay? So stop..." he whispered.

"You're crying...I never saw you cry..." she said. Another tear dropped to her face. Then another.

"And you won't see me cry...ever," he said.

Fuuko's hands raises, gripping his shirt.

"So be strong for me...I'll make everything alright again. I don't want to see you cry again, you got that?" Recca said.

Fuuko nods.

------------------

Riiya comes home from school. Late as it is. He's getting worried that he might get scolded by his mother.

"Why am I worried about that? Mom doesn't speak to me these days. She's so quiet," he thought. "Especially when Dad went away,"

He runs to his home. When he got home, he found Recca looking in the house. He paused.

"Uncle Recca?" he called.

Recca turned and flashed a smile when he saw him.

"Hey kiddo," he greeted.

------------------

Riiya invited him to watch TV. He joined him but Recca just stared at the little boy sitting on the floor in front of him. Fuuko caught them that way. Her heart begins to ache again for Recca, but she just promised him not to cry again.

"I kinda miss the Fuuko who has a tough personality...

...You keep pretending you're still your old self when, in fact, your old self is fading away..."

Koganei's words rewinds up in her mind.

"So...what would my old self do in a situation like this?" she thought. "Tough, huh?" she recalls the moments that Recca had a fight with Yanagi because he keeps secrets from her and, most of the time, Recca comes to her for advice and she always tell him. "Then tell him, you idiot. What makes you think she's too dumb to understand that? You were able to tell me, then why can't you tell her?"

"Right," she said to herself in her mind.

"Riiya," she called.

Recca and Riiya turn to her.

"Can you come here for a while?" she said and walks away.

Recca got surprised.

------------------

NOTE: i love you, readers...(--,)...


	12. Burned

_Chapter 12: Burned_

--

Recca stood up before Riiya did. Fuuko blinked. "Ah, no-"

"What?" Recca asked.

"Nevermind. Do what you were doing just now," Fuuko said and slipped away.

"Weird," Riiya said and sat back to watch TV.

Recca laughed through his nose in agreement with Riiya. Recca looked out for Fuuko outside.

"Ah! They're going to solve the case, Recca jii-chan," Riiya said.

"Yeah? Who do you think killed the man? Hm?" Recca asked.

"I think it's his girlfriend," Riiya answered.

"You think?" Recca said. "By the way, is it really okay for a boy like you to watch these kind of shows? Your dad's going to kill me if you become violent in the future, kid."

"He won't know. He's not here," Riiya reasoned.

Recca laughed.

--

As soon as Riiya fell asleep, Recca went downstairs to talk to Fuuko. She was at the living room, watching TV while drinking hot chocolate. Recca turned off the TV.

"What-" Fuuko stood up but paused seeing Recca behind her.

"What were you going to tell Riiya?" Recca asked.

"Nothing. Why do you want to know?" Fuuko said.

"Nothing," Recca said, sitting on the center table facing her. "Tell me,"

Fuuko shudders. Fuuko stands up and walks away. "I said it's nothing; it's a matter between me and him only. You don't count," she said.

"Why?" Recca asked. He walks slowly approaching her.

"Because-"

"Because what?" he continuously walks towards her.

"Will you stop that!" Fuuko yelled.

"Stop what?" Recca said.

"That! What you're doing right now!" Fuuko said.

"What? What am I doing?" Recca said.

"Stay away!" Fuuko yelled and turns her back on him, intending to escape. Recca grabbed her wrist and turned her. He clutched her arms.

Fuuko pushed him away and ran. Recca grabbed her again through her shirt and held her shoulders with an arm.

"Why are you running away?" Recca asked.

Fuuko closed her eyes tightly. She breathed heavily. She shrugged continuously to brush him away.

"I'm not running away. I am keeping away," Fuuko said. "But you keep pulling me. That's why I'm telling you to stop."

"What do you mean?" Recca said.

Fuuko laughed through her nose. "You will never understand because you're Recca after all," she said, turning her back on him

Recca turned her to face him. "I see. You were going to tell Riiya to go to Tokiya, weren't you?"

"Yes and No."

"What?"

"We are going to leave, but we will not go to Tokiya. He's suffered more than you and I did. I don't want to make Riiya suffer too, that's why I planned that we're leaving."

Recca is stunned. He looks at her.

"Let's stop this, Recca. It's too late to play these foolish games," Fuuko said. "You and I went on separate ways. Let's keep it that way. Are you feeling guilty for me because you made me pregnant? You were drunk! Please stop confusing guilt for love. It was not our fault. We were kids back then,"

"Will you stop saying that crap again! You're really starting to aggravate me!" Recca yelled.

Fuuko shudders but she places herself back together.

"Why, Recca? How important am I to you?" Fuuko asked. "If Yanagi and I are falling off the cliff, who are you going to save first?"

Recca is dumbfounded. "What kind of dumb question is that?"

"Just answer the dumb question!" Fuuko yelled.

Recca's mouth was shut.

"So it will be Yanagi, right? You will choose Yanagi over me," Fuuko said.

"It doesn't-"

"Now you know what's going on in my head. That's why I want to keep distance because I don't want to fall off the cliff helpless," Fuuko said. "Riiya needs me,"

Recca fell, sitting on the couch.

Fuuko lets go of a tear as she stared at Recca. She wipes it away immediately.

"Don't you love me anymore, Fuuko?" Recca asked, looking up to her.

"Even if I were, I can't feed Riiya with that." Fuuko said.

Recca stood from his seat. Fuuko gasped. Recca approached her; Fuuko got surprised. Recca suddenly posed as if he were to hit her. Fuuko readied herself. He suddenly grabbed her hand and turned her arm to her back. Fuuko gasped. Recca is pulling it from the back; Fuuko shrieks. Recca grabs her other arm and bites it. Fuuko shrieked in pain. Recca pressed his teeth heavily on her arm that it starts bleeding. Fuuko tried hitting him to let her go but he bites even heavier when she does. Fuuko held her mouth and cried in pain.

Recca let her go. Blood dripped from his mouth. Fuuko cried for her wounded left arm.

"Are you insane!" Fuuko screamed.

"Are you awake now, huh? Now stop this!" Recca yelled. "You are getting worse everytime. I can't get you anymore!"

"What?"

Recca clutched her arms. Fuuko gasped in pain as he held her wounded arm tightly.

"If you truly love me, just as you said before on that rainy night. You will fight for me not throw me away!" Recca said.

"You-"

Recca pulled her and leaned his forehead to hers. Fuuko stared at Recca. Recca's face tells her he's in pain.

"You and Yanagi are so different. I can tell even if I'm blind if the hand that held me is yours or hers. Yanagi is soft, gentle, kind, sincere, loving and caring. You are tough, strong, brave, independent, spontaneous." He said and looks up at her. "Yanagi will die without a strong wall, but you...you will live even if a wall falls on you. Yanagi needs a protector, she needs me. But me, I need someone who will stay by my side. Someone I will rest my head on after all the fight I go through; soft arms that will let me relax, but strong enough to make me feel safe that I can sleep and not force myself anymore to keep fighting."

Fuuko's face softens hearing his loving words to her. She's melting once again. She's falling all over again. She pushes him away; she shakes her head. "No. My decision is final," Fuuko insisted.

Recca pulled her again and pressed his lips against hers. "Please don't leave me," Recca whispered. Fuuko keeps looking away to avoid falling into his arms again.

"No. Stop this." Fuuko said, pushing him away.

Recca holds her face and his lips touches hers again. "No-" Fuuko wailed. He deepens his kiss. Fuuko shakes her head to make him stop; Recca holds her waist to keep her close. Fuuko screamed through her breath; Recca has completely fastened her mouth with his. And alas, her heart was also taken over and she let him get the best of it.

"Please...don't leave me, Fuuko." Recca whispered.

Fuuko cried for the love she could not rip apart. She could not speak feeling her heart overwhelmed with him.

"Fuuko..." Recca called softly, gently touching her cheek to wipe her tears.

Fuuko flailed her arms around him and kisses him. She let him take her in his arms.

--

Riiya's mouth was shut seeing his favorite man, Recca, and his mother, Fuuko, kissing downstairs. With all the yelling and screaming, who would not wake? This is not the first time. His mother is having an affair and that is so why his Dad left them. Riiya quietly went back to his room just as he came to see what was going on.

--

The two lay on the couch. Recca is lying on his back and Fuuko is on top of him. He stares at the ceiling and Fuuko is listening to Recca's heartbeat while tracing the prints of his shirt.

Recca brushed his fingers through her hair. He can smell the scent of her shampoo.

"Can I ask him 'Do you love me'? That's embarrassing but...I want to know," Fuuko thought.

Recca touched her wounded arm and looked at it. He had tended it but he still feels stupid doing what he did.

"That's nothing. It will heal soon. All wounds do." Fuuko said, filling up the silent atmosphere.

"I'm sorry." Recca said.

"It's okay." Fuuko said. "Actually, it made me feel how pained you were."

Recca raised her chin. Fuuko looked up at him. Recca leans his face to her. Fuuko raised hers to reach him. He is intending to kiss her but she hugged him instead. Recca sighed, smiling.

Recca leans his lips to her ear and whispers, "Ore wa- (I-)"

There was suddenly crash coming from upstairs. Recca and Fuuko gasp. "Riiya," they chorused. They got alarmed and ran upstairs. Riiya's door was locked.

"Damned door!" Recca cursed. He summons Nadare and blows the door down. "Riiya!" Recca called. Recca and Fuuko got surprised seeing fire burning the whole room. "Riiya!" Recca shrieked.

"What? So noisy." Riiya replied. Recca turned. Riiya is right behind; he's holding a picture frame. Riiya looked at the picture in the frame.

Recca can't explain but a thought flicked on his mind.

"Recca, what's going on?" Fuuko called, worried.

"You...did you do this?" Recca asked, looking at Riiya.

"RECCA! WHAT HAPPENED?" Fukko screamed. "RECCA!"

Fuuko could not take the worry she feels anymore. She runs to her bedroom and runs back with her God of Wind. She summons a great gush of wind and extinguished the fire in Riiya's room.

Recca blocked himself to keep his feet on the ground. Riiya didn't even budge.

Fuuko rushed inside.

"Riiya! Recca!" Fuuko called. She stopped as she found them. Recca was on the floor while Riiya is standing next to him, looking at a picture frame.

"Riiya," Fuuko called, approaching him. "Are you okay?" she asked, clutching his arms.

Riiya glared at her and pushed her away. "Stay away from me, you filthy woman!" he yelled.

Fuuko gasped.

"Riiya, why are you doing this?" Recca asked from behind.

Fuuko looked at him and to Riiya. "What?"

Riiya showed to Fuuko their family picture. He sheds a tear. "Why Mom? We were happy in here, weren't we? But why, huh?" he said.

"Riiya?" Fuuko blinked.

"Why would you have an affair with another man!" Riiya screamed. Riiya dropped the picture frame and stepped on it repeatedly. "Now...I know why Dad left us...it's because of you!"

"Riiya-"

Riiya screamed, with a great blaze of fire. "Riiya!" Fuuko called. Recca created a barrier around her, also around Riiya.

"Get away from him!" Recca screamed, attacking with his karyu, Nadare.

Fuuko gasped. "Recca-"

A great blast occurred. Recca was thrown away. Recca groaned as he hit the wall. "Recca!" Fuuko shrieked. She turned to Riiya.

"Who are you?" She yelled, preparing herself for battle. Smoke is too thick for her to see. Slowly, as it fades, a scarlet colored smoke reveals. Fuuko's eyes widen as she sees Kurei's face. He is holding the fainted Riiya on his shoulder.

"You,"

Kurei smirks at her. "Scarlet!" Kurei called, raising his hand towards Fuuko's direction.

"Fuuko!" Recca yelled. Fuuko screamed, assuming she is going to get hit by Kurei's Scarlet but Recca was able to form a barrier for her with Madoka's shield while attacking Kurei with his Saiha.

"Let go of my son, you fiend!" Recca yelled, summoning Nadare.

Kurei just gives him a smirk.

"You-" Recca got surprised when Scarlet suddenly passed through his side, burning a bit of his skin, before he could even aim his target. Recca falls; all the dragons he summoned retreated.

"Recca!" Fuuko summoned a gust of wind to catch him.

"Perfect," Kurei said. He took the advantage of Fuuko's unguarded state and made Scarlet attack her. Fuuko is stunned. She hastily slashes wind towards Scarlet, but failed to hit her. Fuuko shrieks. Scarlet surrounds Fuuko, creating a thick scarlet smoke. Smelling the smoke, Fuuko fainted.

Recca got back up immediately. "Kurei!" Recca yelled. His eyes widen seeing Fuuko on his shoulder and Riiya against his waist.

"No one can ever make you fall but me," Kurei said. "What can you do now that you're alone?"

Recca screamed in anger. "Give them back!" he yelled, summoning all 7 dragons to attack Kurei, but because of his unstable emotional and mental state, the 7 dragons attacked him instead. Recca screamed in pain. He fainted.

--

Recca stared at the night sky through the crumbled roof of the Mikagami residence. He sat up weakly, feeling the pain of burned skin and aching muscles.

Slowly, he forces himself to stand. His vision bounced as he did; he almost lost balance. Recca looks up the sky. He clenches his fists in anger.

--

NOTE: Review please...


	13. The Choice of a Life and for Life

Chapter 13: The Choice of a Life and for Life

----------

NOTE: This fic is based on the anime of Recca no Honou.

----------

Recca drags his feet as he looks for the Hokage team. Blood continuously flows out from his burned skin.

"Darn it." Recca thought. "At least take me to Mom,"

Recca budges to take another step but his cold feet failed him. He fell on the ground.

----------

Recca slowly opens his eyes. The sudden bright light pierced to his eyes. He slowly stands up and groans, touching his wounded side. He looked around. Tokiya is there, staring at him with a serious look on his face.

"Mikagami," Recca said.

Tokiya walks towards him and hits his face with the back of his fist. Recca, partially recovered, was thrown away. Tokiya grabs Recca's collar and glares at him. Recca stared back.

Tokiya laughed through his nose. "What kind of 'man' are you? You have done nothing to save anyone!" he said and threw Recca to the ground. Recca groaned in pain as he hit the ground with his wounded side.

Recca didn't respond to Tokiya's harsh comment. He just gathered himself together and stood up. He walks away.

"Where are you going, you worthless weed," Tokiya called.

Recca didn't listen. He keeps walking towards the door.

"We are the ones left. The whole Hokage team has been abducted. Even Yanagi." a woman said.

Recca ceased and turned. It was Shadow, his mother. Tokiya stared at Recca.

"You can't beat everyone alone," she said.

----------

"Everyone was ambushed last night." Shadow said. "It was worse for Yanagi for she was alone yesterday, tending to her garden."

"I'm glad you were able to save yourself, Mom." Recca said.

Shadow's face fell. She looks away. "Actually," she said. "I was with Mikagami last night. He saved me,"

Recca is disheartened.

Shadow pats Recca's shoulder. "This is no time for drama anymore. I know you're upset but we have no time. We have to get everyone back." Shadow said.

Recca nods.

----------

"So this is his son, I suppose." Kurei said, staring at Riiya who is glaring at him without a wink.

"His eyes are the same as Recca's. Angry and furious when I'm around." Kurei laughs. "I didn't think he would have a kid with you. So you have that secret admiration to Recca, huh." Kurei said to Fuuko.

Fuuko blushes. "Shut up! Leave him alone!"

"I didn't think you won't have reason to be here anymore," Kurei said to Yanagi clearly mocking her. Yanagi flustered. She looked away.

"Leave her alone! You freaking toast-face!" Fuuko yelled.

Kurei turned to Fuuko.

"Don't misinterpret me. You've no reason to be here as well, you know. The most valuable here would be this boy," Kurei said clutching Riiya's face. Riiya flinches and looks away.

"Don't touch him," Fuuko yelled. "Ah!" Fuuko felt extreme heat passing through her side to the point some of her hair strands melted. It turns out Scarlet went by her side. She grins as she looks at Fuuko.

"Tsk, tsk, such a waste. To think you've put effort in maintaining this long hair," Kurei said. Fuuko is glaring at him. "But you know, we can't do anything anymore, right? It's funnier seeing you with this uneven length of hair." Scarlet attacks Fuuko.

"Fuuko!" Domon and the others claimed.

Fuuko sits silently in her seat with her hands still tied down. A part of her clothes are burned and some her skin is suffering in burns.

Riiya is flustered over the scene that his mother is getting by. Fuuko breathes heavily.

"I don't care what you do to me. Suit yourself, but try laying a finger on the boy. I swear I'll kill you even if it costs me my life," Fuuko said.

Kurei stared at her. "I'm looking forward to that," he said. He turns his back on her and leaves.

----------

"I found a letter in the lawn. It's from Kurei's group. It's about Yanagi and the others," Tokiya claimed.

----------

"What a petty place to meet. You sure have no taste in places, which makes you weak in over-all impression," Recca mocked.

"I have to tell you. I'm letting all the captives go, but that is...if you cooperate with my game,"

"Game?"

"One of you stands in for your team and answers a question – personal question, even with a disruption on the side, for every member has equivalent one question, and one question should be answered within fifteen seconds. If you get the correct answer, I'll set one free; if you don't, then that person dies in front of you. You'll keep fighting the first member from our team for as long as you haven't knocked him down. Of course, if that happens, you'll have to fight the next one. If you lose or can't take any longer, you may be replaced by your other team members, but the question has to be answered once asked. If you leave the question hanging, the captive will be killed. How's that?" Kurei said.

"While in disruption?" Tokiya repeated.

"So you want a fight while you ask questions, huh? Fine. You're so predictable, Kurei," Recca said standing in.

Tokiya blocks his way. "I'll fight instead."

"What?"

"You won't be able to handle this. I can't let any one of them die," Tokiya said.

"Wha- Get away!" Recca fumed. "Just because you're able to save my mother doesn't mean you're always a cut above me."

"What? Hesitating?" Kurei smiled.

Recca walks in. "Bring it on!"

Spotlights went on revealing the captured Hokage team members. All of them are looking restless, especially Fuuko and her hair is obviously burnt.

"The hell did you to Fuuko?" Recca said.

"Nothing. Scarlet just gave her a hug," Kurei said.

"You burned her," Recca said.

"Perfect mood," Kurei said. "Let's immediately get to first person, Ganko!"

"Wha-" Recca sweatdropped.

Ganko gasps.

Kurei built a new set of team. The Uruha Kinzoku. The first member to face Recca is named Jin.

"Let's go," Jin said.

"Be careful, Recca, that person holds the Swap Device, the device that can change all sorts of elements and things into metal. He can absorb your powers to replace it into anything that may counterattack you," Shadow said.

"He can replace my flames, but never my dragons," Recca said.

"What's your question, huh?" Recca said to Kurei. Kurei just grinned. Recca frowned.

Jin already starts for the first attack. He picks up crumbles of dirt from the floor and holds them intact.

"That's gross. You're using even that?" Recca said. "Make sure you won't place your hands in me."

"Sorry. Can't do," Jin said and clasped his hand. The dust froze into a metal glove. "Cause you're so irresistible."

Jin rushes and hits Recca. Recca, then, is able to call for Saiha to resist his punch and try to counterattack and slice the metal. Recca is successful in splitting the glove into two but then it turned back into dust and switched into bits of metal. Jin throws the small bits of metal into Recca's face and badly hit his eye.

Recca tried focusing back. "You-" Recca summons Nadare and throws them to Jin. Jin switches his ball of flames into a whip and whips Recca.

Recca's ankle is caught and he is thrown to the ground.

"First question...how old is Ganko as of today?" Kurei said.

"What?" Recca claimed. "How- Ganko never celebrated her birthday on her own." he thought.

Jin catches Recca's foot with the whip and the whip switches into an electric whip. Recca screamed in pain.

"Seven," Kurei is counting down in the side.

"Sixteen!!!" Recca screamed even while electrocuted.

Kurei smiled. "Release her," Kurei said.

Ganko falls down to the ground. She strokes her wrists trying to comfort the pain.

"Ganko, come here!" Tokiya claimed.

Ganko went up immediately and ran to Tokiya and Shadow. "Fuuko- Fuuko-san, she was burned! And Kurei...Kurei plans to keep Riiya-kun with him as bait for Recca-san." Ganko huffed.

----------

Recca catches his breath feeling his whole body undergoing aftershock. He slaps his cheek to grip on himself.

Spotlight reveals Koganei.

Recca looks at Koganei. Koganei is having a worried expression on himself, but then when Recca looked at him, Koganei smirked and nodded at him showing him his trust to Recca.

Recca looks at Jin seriously and ignites his flame. His own, shapeless flame. Recca initiates the second battle by running towards him. Jin, on the other hand, grabs the kerchief around his neck and turns it into a long sword.

"What is Koganei's level in education?" Kurei claimed.

Recca jumps up and blasts his flame onto Jin frantically. Jin, as expected, was able to dodge his reckless attack by whipping about his long sword. It turns out to be Recca's strategy to disturb Jin's attention and attack him through with his Saiha. Recca is able to strike through the long sword.

Jin falls to the ground and the device in his ring shattered into pieces revealing Recca's unanimous triumph.

"Second year, senior high," Recca said.

Kurei laughs through his nose. "Release him," he ordered.

Koganei falls to the ground when the chains ceasing him released him. He ran immediately to the Hokage's side.

The next fighter to face Recca was a woman named Maika.

"The device attached in her bracelet is the Thunder Device. It is able to summon lightning whenever the user creates thunder by snapping his fingers and pointing to the target," Shadow explained.

Next person to be released was Domon. He was asked about how many times Domon works out. Recca is able to answer before 5 seconds pressure. Next was Fuuko. He was asked...

"Have you gone mad?!" Recca claimed blushing tremendously.

"Fourteen," Kurei said grinning.

"You perverted freak!" Recca yelled as he dodged Maika's lightning attack.

"Twelve," Kurei said.

The men of the Hokage team had red faces themselves. "People will figure now how perverted you are," Tokiya said. "This can be considered my revenge,"

"Eh?" Ganko blinked.

"There are a lot of complications in life you'll realize later in your life, Ganko," Domon said.

Recca began sweating hard. Fuuko shuts her eyes tight. There's no way he'd get the answer correct this time. "Bastard Kurei, what kind of question was that?!" she thought.

"Eight," Kurei said.

Recca and Maika began chasing after one another. Recca is dodging and counterattacking with his flame. Maika is dodging and counterattacking with his thunder.

"Four," Kurei said.

"Recca, damn you, do something about the answer!" Fuuko yelled.

Recca gulps. "She started to develop her breasts at age 11 and size was 31 inches,  
C-cup!" he yelled.

Silence. Fuuko is dumbfounded. Tokiya broke a nerve in annoyance. The rest of the Hokage team had their jaws dropped.

Kurei laughs. "Release her," he ordered.

Recca held his head for a while having a terrible confession in his life.

Fuuko is still dumbstruck at the information. It's true. "But how the hell did he know about that?!" she screamed in her head.

Next was Yanagi.

"I decided to change rules because this is starting to bore me," Kurei claimed.

"What?" Recca blinked.

"For tomorrow's finale battle," Kurei said.

"What finale battle, you jerk!" Recca yelled.

"Well, because, I forgot the most interesting part in this battle," Kurei said.

The spotlight reveals Riiya. Riiya is standing with a round of guards with him. Fuuko gasps. Kurei summons Scarlet and she encircles around Riiya.

"No, don't!" Fuuko screamed.

"What are you doing to him, you bastard?!" Recca yelled.

"It's not serious, honestly. Only, I will keep one as captive, but you are free to point which is which. Choose your princess, or your son? But warn you, the one you will not choose today will have his soul inside a sand clock."

"What?" Recca claimed.

"That's right, Recca. I'll take a share of their soul and trap them inside a stone. The Soul Trap Device."

"Oh. my," Shadow claimed.

"What is it, Shadow-san?" Koganei claimed.

"The Soul Trap device is the stone that can bind a person's soul inside it. Within a battle, once the opponent has been caught off-guard by the user, the user casts over his soul onto the Soul Trap Device and, when the victim feels wearing out or tired, his soul will be bit by bit absorbed into the device. Once the device has absorbed his soul completely, the device will be destroyed in its own and release the trapped soul..."

"Which means death to the victim," Tokiya said.

"But time limit is more unpredictable if the victim is not within battle. It may be within 24 hours or less," Shadow said.

"How can the trapped soul be saved before it will absorb the victim's soul completely?" Ganko asked.

"That's not important in the meantime. Recca has to choose wisely first," Tokiya said.

Fuuko runs up to the stage. Koganei catches her. Fuuko struggles against his arms. "Let me go!" she yelled. When Koganei slipped his hands on her, Fuuko runs as fast as she could to get to Riiya. Kurei looked at her. He points at Fuuko. Scarlet switches to Fuuko in Kurei's command and ceases her with her suffocating smoke.

"Fuuko!" Tokiya screams.

Fuuko coughs up for her breath.

Recca steps out to rescue her but Scarlet has sensed him and so she sends flame across his feet.

"Change rules, Recca. Since the loving mother of your kid would rather die than see your son suffer, I'm giving her the honor of sacrificing her own life for his," Kurei said. "Let's switch to your women as choices. They are your choices. You choose only one to take home,"

Recca blinks.

"Choose one, choose wisely, Recca," Kurei said.

Recca is silenced. He looks at Yanagi and Fuuko alternately.

"Who are you going to choose now, Recca?" Kurei asked.

Recca looks at Scarlet. She is on her steady pace; she is ready to attack the other if he chooses one. He looks at Fuuko who is dizzy with suffocation. He looks at Yanagi who is pale and weary.

"You can't cheat, Recca. You may have your dragons, but I have a part of their life," Kurei said. "And Scarlet is ready to give it to me anytime soon after you choose one,"

Recca glares at him and then he disappears in swift air.

Fuuko screams.

"I told you that you can't cheat," Kurei said.

Fuuko faints. Recca is dumbfounded. In his arms, Yanagi lies unconscious and safe. Kurei shows a hand to him. Red smoke encircles in his palm and forms a crystal.

"Come to me when you still want your other woman," Kurei said.

Recca's eyes widened. He had failed Fuuko.

Kurei nods to Raiha. Raiha approaches Fuuko and holds on her collar. He picks her up and hangs her on his shoulder.

"Get away from her!" Recca yells and sends out Homura to attack Raiha.

Raiha didn't mind Recca at all. He continued walking out.

----------


	14. Between Walls

Chapter 14: Between Walls

* * *

NOTE: This fic is based on the anime of Recca no Honou…I don't own RnH..(",)

* * *

Evening. Recca is outside re-sharpening his flame skills. He tries to re-concentrate and practice along with his loyal flame dragons and continuously confide in them his determination to wield strong power once again.

_"The Soul Trap device is the stone that can bind a person's soul inside it. Within a battle, once the opponent has been caught off-guard by the user, the user casts over his soul onto the Soul Trap Device and, when the victim feels wearing out or tired, his soul will be bit by bit absorbed into the device. Once the device has absorbed his soul completely, the device will be destroyed in its own and release the trapped soul..."_

_"Which means death to the victim."_

Recca gets angered remembering the pressure on Fuuko's capture. With this, he unconsciously casts the power of his own flame and it whirled around his body as if he's the living wild fire of a candle.

"It's very endearing how strong your desire can be even without you realizing how strong it is," Koku said from behind. Recca snaps back to reality and looks at him. "Of course it is! Fuuko's life is at stake here. If I never get to save her, I will definitely never forgive myself."

"Oh, regret," Koku gulped. "I think I can relate."

"Darn it! I will definitely kill that Kurei someday. This is just too much!" Recca enflamed once again and blew off his flame all over the place. He was surprised. Koku blew out the flames. "Kid. I don't think you should still need us one hundred percent like you say for you to win," he said. "Just saying,"

He disappeared in the shadows. Recca is still surprised with his withdraw of flame which burned the tree near him. He realizes one more thing to practice on before the match. His own flame.

"The flame is like a heartbeat where in it becomes strong when you find the purpose of its existence and stronger with determination," he remembers his mother once said.

Recca stares at his hand and as he remembers his sincere determination to save Fuuko, he flicks his palms and a strong fire casts around his hand. "Just like the heart, you should also learn to find composure to calm its wild nature into something diligent." He remembers again.

His flame doesn't have form unlike how Kurei has, or how he heard his father had, or even how any of the older flame masters used to have. But he is very confident that his flame is the stronger one, even with its indefinite form. He sharpens his flame casting skills so he could use his own flame to some advantage on his next match.

Feeling the commotion of a blasted flame, Kage and Tokiya went out, though different ways, to see for themselves. Tokiya was from outside the lawn, also practicing his skills, as he is not confident with Recca's ability to be decisive and smart with tricky battles such as this. Kage went out from the bedroom where Riiya is, who had just fallen asleep after worrying and asking her non-stop about his mother.

Kage can see how determine her son is and his flame is seeming stronger in ignition that it was before, but its obedience impresses her much more as the flame follows Recca's movements as if an air. She has confidence in her son much more than he would end up the victor in this battle.

* * *

_"You and Yanagi are so different. I can tell even if I'm blind if the hand that held me is yours or hers. Yanagi is soft, gentle, kind, sincere, loving and caring. You are tough, strong, brave, independent, spontaneous." _

"_Yanagi will die without a strong wall, but you...you will live even if a wall falls on you. Yanagi needs a protector, she needs me. But me, I need someone who will stay by my side. Someone I will rest my head on after all the fight I go through; soft arms that will let me relax, but strong enough to make me feel safe that I can sleep and not force myself anymore to keep fighting."_

Fuuko's tear drops from her eye though her face doesn't show any expression at all. "But who will care for me, Recca?" Fuuko thought.

Her fingers had gone numb; her face haven gone pale and her legs felt limp. It's not like she's feeling her blood drain, but rather, she's feeling sick. And, slowly, she's having double visions. "Is this what they call being delirious?" She thought. She breathes in and out hard but the amount of air she's breathing doesn't feel enough to make her feel alive.

Kurei appears from the shadows. He takes her hand and attaches a bangle-form replica of the God of Wind. He also touches her neck to take off the necklace she's wearing. More to Fuuko's surprise, she barely felt any of it. Kurei replaces her aquamarine pendant with a red one with a character inscribed, 'hatred'. "Can you see your new pendant?" Kurei said. "Actually, I'm just planning something bigger than this. One step to a bigger battle. The battle Recca and I started had gone a long hiatus. It's about time he awakens it back up to some extent. I'm not really expecting him to be able to recharge himself immediately back up to how strong he was during that time. At least seventy percent is good enough. Since I've got a lot more comrades and followers to help me practice him for him to reach his hundred percent."

He attaches the necklace back to her neck. "Isn't it a bit of a pleasure for you if you will be able to awaken his powers from its ten percent yesterday into seventy percent today?" he says while properly placing the pendant to center of the chain. "Because if it does, it definitely means he loves you." He lays the pendant on her skin, and whispers, "Known by night, blood by day."

Fuuko felt her strength recover. She felt much lighter than a second ago. She looks at Kurei wondering how it happened and looks down at her pendant, but she can't seem to see it. Her head feels light. As if dizzy or drunk. Everything feels very weird.

"Fuuko, this was not how cruel things would turn out if you didn't interrupt Kurei's plans," Raiha said. Somehow, Fuuko got really pissed with his voice, though she felt his words sounded significant. She began to cast out her wind and shattered the furniture alongside Raiha, and could also be him if he didn't dodge immediately. "Shut up, you cold-hearted faggot," she suddenly said. Raiha was surprised. So is Fuuko, though in her mind. She realizes her subconscious mind is now the one controlling her conscious state. She is completely out of control of her repressed emotions.

Raiha immediately went to Kurei's side to ask of what he's planning, but Kurei knows he will eventually ask so he just said, "Everyone has their own bit of hate on someone they are close to, but people forget that bit of hate because the amount of love they have for those people are greater in number. The necklace she's wearing will reverse the amount of love she has with the amount of hate she has. Since it's Recca and his gang will be there, that girl is enough to wipe out the whole team." Kurei looks at Raiha. "I think you know what I mean."

Raiha feels confused but flushed by the meaning of Fuuko's reaction with him. "About that," Kurei said. "Maybe she had something for you? But you shouldn't place hope in there, even one bit. That'll completely destroy you from there on."

Kurei stood from his seat and walked away.

"Oooh, finally." Kurei spoke as the Team Hokage enters the hall. "I've been waiting for so long."

Recca looks around for Kurei's trace. He finds him standing at a platform at the corner of a vast, dark stadium he could not describe. "So curious of how things work here? I'll stop your frustration."

The light switches on and reveals a wide, rectangular, cemented stadium; very common looking, no special characteristic that will make the sparring difficult between opponents. Recca gazes back to Kurei this time with much doubt in his eyes. He knows Kurei's background very much and this simple-looking stadium is something to be alarmed of if the perpetrator of the sparring involves Kurei.

Kurei smirks as he knows what Recca has been thinking. "No pressure, Recca," he said. "I'm definitely keeping my word. I'm giving you back your woman, but, of course, only if you're worth it. I'll see you again when you're done. Good luck." He turns and leaves with Raiha.

"What? What do you mean? Where's Fuuko?" Recca yelled. "Kurei!"

"Recca!" Ganko claimed. Recca turned to look at her. "There she is!" Koganei said.

Recca looks on to what they are pointing. It really is Fuuko and she's walking towards them with no signs of any injuries or irregularity in her condition.

"What is this?" Recca thought.

"She's okay!" Ganko cheers.

"I don't understand," Koganei said.

"This is definitely a trick." Tokiya said.

Recca, Tokiya and Koganei drives on their guard and so followed by Domon. Yanagi and Ganko are both confused but looked on to how the three are expecting Fuuko to be. As Fuuko slowly comes forth the bounds of the Hokage Team, she raises her head and her pendant sparkle in bright blood red.

"Something's…different?" Koganei said.

"That's definitely not hers anymore!" Tokiya said.

"Damn!" Recca claims.

"The Soul Endearing Device," Kagerou said. "That's definitely it. Since Fuuko is stuck with the Soul Trap Device, with her weak disposition, this device is definitely the only thing that can completely control her without having to encounter trouble with her resistance. The stone will charm out of her system any reversed of what's carved in the stone and replace it with that feeling."

"Knowing Kurei and this annoying plot, he definitely carved in something like 'hate' or 'anger'," Recca said.

Fuuko began freaking out and waves her hand into a form of a hurricane and blasted it into the team. Of course, the team had quickly found escape. The four remaining frontmen for the team place Yanagi, Shadow and Ganko to the safest corner they could find for them and began to face the angered Fuuko.

"Her power," Shadow claims. "It's twice as powerful as that of the God of Wind. How were they able to make a replica as that? If it's something they just made in this world, I can't guarantee anything to destroy it."

"Oh my," Yanagi said.

"Fuuko-chan," Ganko said looking on to Fuuko's face. She can't say whether it's the trick of the light, but Ganko can see in Fuuko's face a hurt expression. She looks like she's struggling very much and at the same time is sweating more than she normally does during fights. As if she's fighting although with a fever. "Kage-san, is there still a probability that Fuuko is still in the Soul Trap Device?"

"Yes. She definitely would have been unless the user itself will release her from it. Kurei wouldn't use the Soul Endearing Device with her alone since Fuuko has the ability to conquer her mind even if it were being controlled. If she is in the Soul Trap Device, she can be totally into the former without resistance."

"For how long can she take? Since we left her with him?" Ganko cried.

Shadow gets surprised and frowns. "I don't know. For Fuuko, she may be able to extend her ability to more than the twenty-four-hour record that it had been longest resisted by a victim in the past. But if we follow suit, from the time we last saw her, she only has less than half an hour left to remain in her human body."

Yanagi and Ganko are astonished. The Soul Trap was that serious. Yanagi began crying thinking about Riiya as he made Yanagi promise to bring his mother back to him so he could hug her and apologize for all the practical jokes he kept playing.

"Recca, do your best! Do it for Riiya! Save Fuuko!" Yanagi screams out loudly; echoing to the halls.

Recca heard it all right. Now, he could not focus the way he was just now. He stumbles and falls on his face. "Argh," he groaned. "Damn it. How does this annoying pendant works?"

Fuuko roared tremendous storms throughout the stage and at the same time twirls around it to get to her four male opponents. When they fall into the ground, she flips up ground air into sharp blades and when they reach the top, she calls for a rain of air needles.

Koganei and the others had gotten their own piercings and fine cuts; luckily, they are able to keep it from hitting through their vital organs.

Recca hopes to call Madoka, but his barrier will have to mean not moving anywhere else out of the barrier. He tried calling for Rui, but Fuuko isn't anywhere hesitant in anything and bursts in every illusions, giving them much damage. Special abilities would just make everything much difficult, only one-on-one round could give them favorable advantage, but face-to-face is the only closest they could come into her.

"Darn it," Recca enrages and explodes a vast smoke, covering everyone's eyes. "Recca, what are you doing?" Domon yelled. "Oh my," Koganei curls up his nose. "Stupid Hanabishi," Tokiya murmured.

Later on, they felt a harmful toss that throws them out of the arena. They groan as they try to calm up their angered nerves. They got surprised to see Madoka's barrier surrounding them.

Tokiya's eyes widen. "What the-"

"Recca-niichan!"

"What the heck is this, Hanabishi!" Domon yelled.

Recca stood in the middle of the arena, between two torpedoes and in front of Fuuko. Fuuko is looking around. Recca isolated himself of the rest of Hokage team. She looks on to him and the wild winds she created around her disappeared.

She stares at Recca with her darkened, nerved eyes. Interpreting it with the devices she's attached to, she may be having a hard time dealing with it now. Recca could not get himself practically, but he's thinking it's a relief he didn't leave Yanagi to suffer instead.

"T...ake...care..." His eyes widen when began to speak. "R...iii...ya." Fuuko's eyes fall a tear. She falls into her knees. Recca gasps from within. "Fuu-"

Fuuko gets back on her feet, but while she does, a twin windstorm drilled through beside her. She flails her hand and the windstorm starts its dance with Recca.

From above, Shadow understood Fuuko was intending to fall into her death though tries to fight it.

Recca uses four dragons successively just to deflect her attack, till later that he's gotten right at her back. But it's been taking away, he could only run away from her and she's been exhausting all her strength.

"_The Soul Trap Device will be much effective when the user is exhausting his energy while in the midst of its effect."_ He remembers his mother note of it.

"Argh!" Recca yelled and began to call for his dragons simultaneously in doubles, exhausting his own energy. But his aim can only deflect and run away from Fuuko not be able to get near her. Finally, at summon of three dragons and almost burning his own skin was he able to get to Fuuko; he rips Fuuko's necklace of her and shatters the pendant using the heat of his own flame.

Fuuko lies on the ground like a fish breathing its last bit of air. Recca fell on his knees and stared at her for a while. He quickly pulls himself to recover to get to her and tries to grip on his strength to bring her in his arms.

"Fuuko," Recca called over and over. She just stared at him as if he was death. Her eyes looked dark and bloodshot. Her face looks just as tired as her body feels. She closes her eyes and Recca alarms and shakes her. She gets to open her eyes again, but it just kept looking on only.

"You have to have gotten free by now," Recca cried.

"There's no use. She'd probably only had ten percent or less left of her soul intact with her body. She might be feeling she's just dreaming now." Shadow said. "It's already too late."

Yanagi began sobbing. Ganko could not believe her ears; her eyes began to fall tears. The barriers had been disabled. Koganei and Domon ran to Fuuko's side. Tokiya just looked on; looking anguish.

Fuuko stares at Recca. "What a strange dream," she thinks. "Why is he looking at me like this? Domon and Koganei...why are they crying? They looked like...we were in a battle. Did I lose this round? How annoying. So sometimes, winners can become losers in dreams, huh?"

"This place...this is where we first fought, right? Oh, it's a flashback. What an annoying dream. I won the fights we had here, you know," Fuuko thought.

Kurei, who watched everything from the back of the arena, is now on his way out of it with Raiha. "Impressive. At the most was seventy-five percent," he said. "Too bad. He was just there to show it to her. Not really to save her."

Recca could not resist the angering affection he has for her and he caresses her face with his palm. Right now, she looks smaller than he again. Like, he can muddle her anytime. Small and vulnerable; just as any other girls.

The hue of her eyes began to fade in color and this alarmed Recca. "Fuuko," he called desperately. "You've got to fight this. For Riiya, okay?" But she looked like she's continuing to follow the depths of her soul. Recca holds her tightly, cheek to cheek and up till she can start to feel again, but her body feels limp cold. Like, anytime she leaves her body, she'd freeze to such position.

"No," he murmurs. "No!"

A flame sparked through his left arm and across Fuuko's body. It was gentle yet strong in color. It engulfs Fuuko, and at the same time, Recca was there the whole time. The flame looks like it's trying to stir some kind of a technique. Recca loosens his grip but wove the thread of flame to and fro surrounding Fuuko's body. His eyes, they are still crying but they are blood red in color with a hint of orange and blue as if they are balls of flames themselves. Recca continue to thread along in circles. It started to shake the ground, stir the winds, and evaporate the water.

Meanwhile, outside, Kurei felt the strong aura Recca had been threading around. "What was that?" Raiha said. "Just someone looking for someone's wandering soul." Kurei said.

"It was a flame that traces the living form through each element and reconnects it to its natural form, as if destruction was never held. One of the most powerful and greatly wished flame of the Hokage team - the Flame of Restoration. Healing powers, immortality, divine strength – they are completely nothing compared to this kind of power. It was a power believed to be held on only by a god," Kurei thought. "The power I tried imitating when Kurenai was killed." He murmurs.

Raiha looked at Kurei wondering for what he was murmuring. "I said, maybe he wasn't there just to show off all along. He really is there to save her." Kurei said.

Back to the stadium, the rest of Hokage team is noticing what Recca has been doing as well. As they see the completely destroyed stadium form back bit by bit into its original form. The way it looked when they came an hour ago.

Shadow's eyes are in awe ten times as much as the youngsters had. Yanagi noticed it. "Oh, Recca. Oka would be so proud of you if he's seeing this – the Flame of Restoration." She thought and sobbed in joy. "You are definitely the one destined to end the Hokage's curse."

The seven dragons who never left Recca's side had seen the power he's been showing and they are all hands down at him. "Any traces can be threaded back to its form without fail," Nadare commented. "Greatly talented as he is." She added with a smile.

"A rewind button born as a human boy," Koku laughed. "But as they say, as he is able to restore, he can destroy."

"A complete destruction," Madoka said.

"The perfect end for the Hokage curse," Nadare said.

Recca continued spinning the threads of flame to and fro, back and forth till finally he seems to have found what he's been looking for. The flame calmly brings Fuuko's body back down and lays her gently on the ground. The soft-toned flame finally disappears revealing a living, healthy Fuuko. She stretches out as if she's had quite some rest.

Koganei and Domon could not believe their eyes, but cheered for it anyway. It was a time for celebration. Tokiya flicked a smile as well when he saw her move without a sign of faults. It was then he realizes, his wounds had been healed as well. He looks up at Recca, who is smiling as he is looking at Fuuko and then he falls on the ground.

"Recca-niichan!" Koganei claims.

Recca wakes up and finds himself inside his mother's room. He hasn't been there since a long while and staying there now sure felt something warm and special. It also made him feel that what happened was like a dream. Just some 5 days was enough to shake around everything he thought had become stable. Difference on 5 years before and after is that the little kids before are older teens now and there's a new kid to care for.

"Recca," Shadow called from behind.

"Kaa-chan," Recca fancily called. Being used to formal manners from almost 500 years ago, she found it offending. She slaps a hand across his head to get enough negative energies to bounce right through his head and throw him off his pace.

"Hahaue, such calling is more like trying to be closer to their parents, you know! It's a complete misunderstanding!" Recca said.

"Either way, I don't like it," Shadow said.

He sighs. "I saw how you saved Fuuko then," Kagerou is looking up at him with a smile. "I'm very proud of you."

Recca smiles back in acknowledgment though he could not say well exactly how it happened and if he can explain how he was able to do it and if he can do it again.

"Oka has his reasons for saying your shapeless form of flame is definitely the most perfect," she added. Recca smiles in relief. "Fuuko...she's been waiting a long while for you to wake," Shadow said. "Though, she only comes over when everyone's asleep."

"Except you, right?" Recca said. "Except me," Shadow laughs.

Recca slowly turned serious and asks his mother. "Where's she?"

"She always goes back to his house. Tokiya's house," she said. "He doesn't live with them anymore but he keeps going here to see Riiya. Riiya always comes to see you. Fuuko could only glance at your room whenever she picks him up at night."

"You talk like I've been out for a whole month!" Recca snickers. "Exactly," Shadow said. His jaw dropped. "Tidy up. You've got more than one corner in your body to scrub." She says as she leaves him to wonder of his consciousness.

"I was in a coma?"

* * *

When Recca took a bath, he lathered and washed and scrubbed and lathered and washed his entire body. After that, he brushed and flossed and brushed and flossed and brushed his teeth and used mouthwash twice. It was only this time in his entire life that he felt once isn't enough. He finally gets off the bath after an hour and a half. "Ah! That felt good. Whooo!" he cheers as he walks away from the bathroom.

All the time, the Hokage team is all present after being told of Recca's consciousness. They were all in awe. Recca could not speak as he himself is half-naked right now and only had boxer briefs to hide his personal things. "For a while," he excuses himself and zooms to the room to get into decent clothes.

They started to cheer for his good condition. "Let's celebrate, Recca!" they began to yell on and on.

"Let's get filthy drunk tonight!" Koganei claims. Domon hits his head. "So this is where you waste your youth, eh?"

"If you don't want to, Domon, go home and suck softdrinks!" Koganei claims. Domon gets surprised. "You-"

"We're going home once Riiya says his hi's and goodbye's," Fuuko said. "You can gulp down every bottle you buy, Koganei, because I and Domon are your only strongest drinking buddies."

"Don't worry, Koganei, even without these annoying brats. You still got me!" Recca claims.

They began to cheer and surround Recca, except for Fuuko. She just looked on; the way she would back in their teens alongside Tokiya.

Recca enjoyed the crowd and gave them comfort. They exchange their stories and the month ago felt like yesterday more and more for Recca. It was fun, in a way, now that it's over. He glances at Fuuko, who is busy taunting and teasing with Koganei and Domon.

Later on, Fuuko excuses herself to take Riiya home, which ended the celebration since Recca announced boldly he'll be taking her and Riiya home. Everyone understood what he meant and Riiya was proud to be his son now.

Recca looks at Fuuko but she won't look back at him, though she can feel the heavy stares he's been giving her. "Thank you for taking me back home alive," she spoke and batted her eyes for a second to confirm her conversation with him. "You're welcome," Recca replied with a smile.

Fuuko kept on walking while looking out to Riiya who is snipping dried leaves, skipping and playing around with the flying leaves. Recca pulls her arm lightly and kissed her lips. Then, he hugs her tightly. Fuuko is in a shock all the time.

She starts to form tears when he whispers those sweet three words she's been waiting so long to hear. "I'd always jump after you, Fuuko," Recca added. "Even in death."

Fuuko started sobbing. "Kage-san said you may not open your eyes. I was scared. She said if he didn't choose me, I might have been the one who may not open her eyes forever."

"When it's me and you who'd escape, I'd always choose you. Always." Recca said. Fuuko looks up at him and he kisses her again; only this time, longer.

"Recca..."

"Let's make it work, Fuuko," he said. "Maybe this time, we could turn things the way they're supposed to be?"

Fuuko could not stop crying in joy; he kept wiping them off. She laughs while crying. Riiya just watches them with a smile from afar. He runs back and jumps onto them.

"Mom, you look uglier crying while laughing," Riiya said. Fuuko hits him on the head. "Hey, don't hit him like that!" Recca claims. "Then hit him like this?" Fuuko hits Recca's head harder. "Ow! Hey!" he yells.

* * *

Finally, THE END. Hope you liked it! I've been struggling so hard with this kind of ending and my noisy (and like to re-format computer kind of) family. There's just no way can a writer survive such environment. Anyway, so glad I've finally had it done. Thanks for the readers who looked forward to this fan-fiction. I still love FuukoxRecca fics even though it's kind of impossible for them (with accordance to the manga version of it.) LOVELOVE FuuRecca. More power. (",)


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